


Book of Hours: Supplementary Materials

by Kemmasandi



Series: Book of Hours [3]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-13 05:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3370292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kemmasandi/pseuds/Kemmasandi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bits and bobs of worldbuilding for the <i>Book of Hours</i> series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. History: A Basic Timeline

**Author's Note:**

> **\+ Blanket Disclaimer:** These are _headcanons_ for my TFP-AU fanfiction continuity, Book of Hours; they borrows from canon occasionally but goes off in other directions a lot because I like making shit up a lot. If you’re curious, go [here for more info](http://protihexirecords.tumblr.com/). If you’re not, don’t take it too seriously.

 

 

 

> **\+ the Dynasty of Primes**

Takes its name from the succession of inheritors to Prima’s Matrix and throne, who referred to themselves as Primes. There are next to no verified written records dating from the Dynasty; most texts purporting to date from that Age were reproduced during the later Ages, the originals having been lost to destruction in Cataclysm or war, or simply been rendered unreadable by the passage of time.

Landing - the mythological arrival of Primus to the planet that would later become Cybertron* - is the generally accepted beginning of the Dynasty. This period encompasses the creation of the Thirteen, their defeat of Unicron, and later the genesis of Cybertronian civilization. It corresponds more or less to the Book of Song. The growing Cybertronian society gradually divided itself into subgroups based on line of descent from the members of the Thirteen, developing a system of inheritance in which property and prestige passed from one’s carrier to oneself and one’s siblings.

The development by Solus the Smith of cold-construction triggered a sharp increase in population growth - the resultant mecha were not considered full citizens and had to be beholden to a kindled mech, usually the head of a House, resulting in a two-tiered society of free ‘whole mecha’ and a servant class of cold-constructs who were generally not allowed to enter business, craft or combat of their own accord. The laws were undertaken by the Thirteen, and lasted the length of the Cousins’ War, to be eventually repealed under the rule of Enceladion Prime, who was himself a cold-construct.

The Cousins’ War was the major conflict of the Age, a civil war which grew out of the suspicion and trials of the two Fallen Primes’ insurrections. Unlike previous conflicts, the Cousins’ War was fought between members of the same Houses and clades, hence the name; the instigating conflict, in fact, was between mother and daughter - Genesis Prime, and her child Abyssus. The Cousins’ War ravaged much of the early dynasty, turning the proto-cities of Meridia, Thetacon, and the First City into battlefields. The heroes Enceladus, Phoebus, Persephone, Lightningblade and Olivine are the major figures on the Primacy’s side; on Abyssus’ come Mortilus, Pyroxene, Cryptide and the twins Aquila and Armadere.

The Cousins’ War came to a slow end during the reigns of the Fifth and Sixth Primes. Afterward, a period of reconstruction and peace saw the refinement of the former social structure, under which the system of Houses was merged into the concept of clades and the division of social roles by spark spectra became popular. The power of the Primes diminished; legal and political responsibilities passed to the leaders of individual cities, and a system of ranking clades by wealth and influence, where previously each had been equal to the others, was first conceived.

As the population grew, land and resources within the Centralian Plains (see the map, Central City down to Metrotitan and across to Thetacon) became stretched. Most Cybertronians did not live in cities; rural mining and farming communities run by small low-ranked clades dotted the plains. Settlers went into the hill country south and west of the Central Lowlands - the Austral  _rus_  - and the northeastern seaboard of the Sea of Rust - the Tagan  _rus_. These areas had been explored and to some extent settled during the previous ages - the city of Procetae at the Well of All Sparks in the far North rivaled the Centralian cities in size - but were very much underpopulated in comparison to the Central Lowlands. 

This was partly because the land in those places already belonged to other civilisations. The Predacon nation covered most of the Tagan Heights and the downlands east of them, while the Arachnicon nation flourished in what hadn’t yet been named the Mitteous Plateau. The expanding Cybertronian nation often came into conflict with these civilizations. The settlers in those places could seldom rely on the Centralian civilisations for help, so they developed their own ways of coping, and their culture gradually changed to reflect this.

The civilisation of the Dynasty came to an end when disaster struck one of Cybertron’s nearest planetary neighbours in the form of a catastrophic meteorite impact. The disintegrated chunks of the former planet rained down on Cybertron for several thousand vorn, turning the surface of the planet into a nightmarish death-trap. Much of the Centralian lowlands were destroyed before anyone had the chance to figure out an escape. Small groups of surviving Cybertronians sought shelter far underground in the mountains of the Tagan Heights and the Main Divide. This was itself a dangerous option, and many clades did not make it through to the end. The Predacon nation was likewise decimated, and many vorn afterward the species was found to be extinct.

* - the Mythos can’t seem to make up its mind on whether Primus  _is_ Cybertron, or whether the planet existed prior to His Landing. Many believers compromise and say that Cybertron became a part of His body after the rigors of the Thirteen’s creation, as he entered deep sleep.

 

 

> **\+ the First Generation**

The Cataclysm is technically counted as part of the First Generation. Underground, the remnants of the Cybertronian species reorganised their collective priorities, and when they emerged into a very different world, they set about developing a society quite different from what they had had before.

Clades, previously the only ‘family’ group, were further subdivided into cadres of between five and ten mecha. These became a ‘nuclear family’ focused heavily around kindling new mecha. The loss of the Well of All Sparks during the Cataclysm had left the species with only one method of propagation - kindling. Given that the post-Cataclysmic Cybertron was a very dangerous places, geologically unstable, reproduction was suddenly all-important. 

The survivors gradually came down out of the mountains, establishing themselves once again on the plains. The primary areas of settlement were the Tagan and Austral  _rus_ , the Centralian plains and the northwest seaboard of the Rust Sea. Clades organised themselves in tight-knit groups and jealously guarded their land and resources. The larger groups were subsequently able to keep larger areas of land and produce more usable resources, enabling their populations to grow further; the largest of these groups grew large enough to dedicate certain sectors of their population to their own protection, and developed into small feudal nations.

The Primacy had survived the Cataclysm under the mountains of the Main Divide. When the Prime and his attendant clade emerged, they found that they had been all but forgotten by those who had sought shelter elsewhere, and the idea of the Primacy was treated, especially by those in the east and south, as a rival state rather than a religious entity - a view not helped by the Primacy’s view of itself as an institution belonging at the top of Cybertronian society. The early First-Generation Primes thus became feudal king-priests, often expanding their domain by right of conquest. However, the dynamic between the Primes and the feudal lords was considerably helped by the Primacy’s tradition of nominating successors from the upper echelons of the broad population rather than from within a single clade. This gave many states the opportunity to share in the Primacy’s power in the northwest and shore up their own position at the top of the pile in the west and south - although many mecha in those parts did not subscribe to the same beliefs (the division between Oriens and Occidens Orthodox sprung from this time), the authority of the Primacy in its role as the representative of Primus in the world still carried weight. Many times, a Prime sealed the alliance between the Primacy and another state by nominating that state’s lord, or a mech nominated by the lord, as his successor.

As the population grew, and immense natural reserves of energon and other resources were discovered in the Austral  _rus_ , the Austral polar region was explored and settled. The most famous conflict of the First Generation was the fifteen-thousand vorn Old Schism, played out between between two rival claimants to the Primal throne after the death of a Prime whom had failed to make known his choice of successor. The settlement of the Austral pole at times seemed like a race between factions working on the behalves of either the former priest whom occupied the Primal Throne in the First City and had integrated the Matrix, and the noble exiled to the Tagan  _rus_  whom controlled the recently-rediscovered Well of All Sparks. The Schism defined the split between Occidens and Oriens Orthodoxies, which became the flagship beliefs of each of the rival Primes.

Pre-Cataclysmic identities were often reproduced in the First Generation. Although the practical link between Dynastic and First-Generation civilization was nearly nonexistent, the elevation of history through ancestor-worship was at that time reaching a peak, and many polities sought to heighten their social standing and inter-national power through the claiming of a link to the notable places of old which featured in worldwide myths and legends: the First City, Meridia, Thetacon and Tyger Pax being the most famous of these. Near the end of the First Generation, the proto-states claiming descent from the First City - five or six of them - came to a conclusion and merged. Their noble clades joined to form a ruling class that was dominant over much of southwest Centralia. Several other such proto-states followed suit, creating Metrotitan, Thetacon, Simfur, Praxus, Protihex, Central City, and two Meridias (nicknamed East and West). The final such created entity was the state of Tyger Pax, which ushered in the beginning of the Second Generation.

 

 

> **\+ the Second Generation**

The Second Generation was an age of upheaval in which the civilisations developed in the First Generation found themselves put to a number of harsh tests. 

By the early years of the Age, Cybertronian exploration had covered most of the planet. Although the population of the Southern Hemisphere still vastly outnumbered that of the North, the balance was slowly evening out, and over the course of the Second Generation Cybertronian civilisation reached every part of the planet. Iacon, founded during the preceding generation, quickly grew from a small proto-state into a global trade center; Kaon became Cybertron’s southernmost independent state; and Tarn was founded to take advantage of the massive metallic resources discovered deep in the Iron Ridge. The Northern Polar Highway was built, opening up the Manganese Mountains and the Boreal Flats, and the Northern Trunk Road followed, linking Praxus to Burthov and then Kalis.

Cybertronian technological development and subsequent expansion into their solar system brought them to the attention of the Quintessons, a spacefaring species in the process of carving out an empire. Cybertronian society, which was relatively fragmented, did not react quickly enough, and the quickness and ferocity of the Quintesson’s initial forays onto the planet caused a great deal of damage. However, the Quintessons failed to capitalise upon their initial advantage, perhaps out of caution, and the various Cybertronian states banded together under the leadership of Tarn, Meridia, and the First City, eventually driving off the first Quintesson forces.

Cybertron made several major technological advances during the Second Generation, driven by wartime. The development of the second-generation frametype blueprints - rotaries, seekers, dexters, and the sparked ships and cities - and extended spaceflight technology was intended to help the Cybertronian armies match up to the Quintesson forces. Leaps forward in engineering and communication tech accompanied each of these developments, linking the separate states together to an extent never previously matched. The knock-on cultural effect of this, and the broad cooperation in response to the extraterrestrial threat, was that state-based nationalism ebbed away, and the idea of a singular Cybertronian species identity was aired publically for the first time since the Dynasty of Primes.

This unity became one of the major themes of the middle and late Dynasty. Between the First and Second Wars, many schools of thought adopted the idea of a single global political entity as the ultimate progression of Cybertronian civilization. Outside of the philosophic, however, the concept took a long time to catch on. It was recognised as a threat to the independence of the existing states, and rightly so; the concept was rejected in political circles for a long time as a ‘risky and untested’ system in favour of those that worked for the current status quo. Proponents rejected this view, citing the precedent of the Dynasty.

The Second Quintesson war changed things. It came at a time when the bonds of allyship from the previous war were breaking down; the Iron Ridge Feud between Tarn and Simfur was reaching crisis point, which sent repercussions throughout the southern industrial circuit, meanwhile the northern industrial cities of Polyhex, Burthov and Nova Cronum benefited hugely from the unrest in the south. The Quintessons attacked hard and fast, establishing a ground command post north of the Mare Occidentalis and wreaking havoc throughout the western hemisphere. Again Cybertron came together and fought back, managing to push the Quintessons offworld again, before they came back for the Third War (the repeated failure to take Cybertron by this stage something of a sore point for Quintessa’s emperors).

At this point, the Primacy passed into the hands of a former Towersmech, Kathisma, of Central City, whom had proven himself in the service of the Primacy during the Second War. Kathisma was well-educated, and among other things very much understood the global union theory. As he rallied the much-shaken populace to fight off the Quintessons once again, he worked towards the creation of a solid, resilient overarching state which could meet and match the Quintessons’ assaults without fracturing along its own faultlines, as he had seen with the Iron Ridge Feud. He convinced the leaders of seven states - Meridia, the First City, Tyger Pax, Metrotitan, Central City, Hive City, and Nova Cronum - to agree to a temporary amalgam under the union model, using the emergency of the War as incentive. The unified state proved well able to stand up to the demands of the war and protect more of the planet than could each state on their own. Several other states joined the union, and gradually the Quintessons were driven off for the third time. Kathismon used the union’s successes to bring more and more of the independent states under his hegemony, until the entire planet was covered with what he came to call his Cybertronian Empire.

 

 

> **\+ the Golden Age**

The initial vorn of the Golden Age were spent in war reconstruction. The ravages of the Quintesson wars had left the Empire weak beneath the propaganda, and had to be repaired in case someone else moved in to pick off what the Quintessons had left. Reconstruction however kickstarted the first of many economic booms to punctuate the Golden Age. Kathismon’s early death brought on a small recession; however his successor was able to pick up where he had left off and the Golden Age continued to gather momentum.

Contact was made early in the Age with several new interstellar entities, the most important of which was the Council of Galactic States. Cybertron came to observe the Council’s laws and regulations; however it was not signatory to many of the Council’s treaties, and the relationship between the two entities was not always warm. Trade benefited both Cybertron and its stellar neighbours, and was quickly established and regulated. Spaceports were opened in Praxus, Polyhex, Kaon and Tarn as well as Iacon.

Kathismon’s successor instituted several major social policies in order to solidify Imperial control over the quickly-growing populace. The first of these was the caste system, meant initially as a classification system based on an ideal social structure. The caste system was popular at first; in conjunction with the functionalist ideologies that were popular at the time, giving rise to the slogan of “Everyone’s shape serves a purpose”. The system did not stay that way – time and tradition made it rigid and stratified, and later on an eighth tier – criminals and slaves – was added to the original seven-tier system. The Primacy also introduced the Imperial Pentarchum, an artificial Broadstream of the Mythos which was then imposed across the planet in the form of the Five Pillars of worship and the Imperial Calendar of Festivals. Finally, the Primacy itself was moved from Centralia to Iacon, following the Imperial Government, which had set itself up in the rich northern city.

The Matrix itself underwent changes during the Golden Age. These were unintentional, a memory of the hundreds of mecha whom had borne it over the ages. It became clear in the early Golden Age that not just anyone could bear it any longer. One Prime suffered physical spark maladies after integrating the Matrix; another had his spark subsumed entirely, creating a frighteningly powerful and completely merciless sort of zombie which was immediately referred to thereafter as a ‘Fallen Prime’. The system of Primal nomination of their own successors was abandoned in favour of testing the Matrix against potential candidates. Even this was no guarantee of ability – a second, and a third Prime Fell. Eventually, the Matrix itself was placed in a heavily-guarded chamber below Iacon’s Chamber of the Ancients, and a replica made for publicity purposes. Each new Prime was then chosen by the High Council, often on the merit of acting as a mere figurehead mouthpiece for that Council. The Primacy – and the Mythos itself – gradually lost political relevance as a result.

During the early to middle Golden Age, cold-construction was gradually taken over by corporate interests. Cold-construction as a one-off method of reproduction was expensive, but in large batches of structurally-identical mecha could be proportionally cheaper In order to fill new job markets, companies paid for the embodiment of entire clades of new mecha, who were then trained in their specific jobs and put to work to earn the company more money to do the same thing again. Sometimes new cold-constructs would be obligated to pay back their creation debt – the amount of money which it had taken to have them brought online – before they could look for jobs elsewhere. The practice was quickly regulated to ensure that it would not take advantage of new mecha, but as the Golden Age progressed, corruption and exploitation quickly overtook the regulations. By the time of the Dusk Ages, the situations of such cold-constructs had often reached conditions not unlike outrght slavery.

Cybertron’s population also went through a boom period at the beginning of the Golden Age. The imposition of the caste system promised to control it for a while, but in practice squeezed the majority of the population into the lowest tiers. After a point, further growth was not sustainable in terms of available living area. The Cybertronian Empire had long since expanded into interstellar space, but the invention of space bridge technology first made offworld colonies not only feasible but practical. Habitable planets were quickly greenlit for colonisation – often without consideration for prior inhabitants, which led to controversy with ethicists and the Galactic Council. Sometimes these situations were resolved peacefully – and sometimes they weren’t. Sanctions were sometimes imposed, but for the most part Cybertronian trade and assistance was too valuable to lose.

The Lunar industries were a related undertaking, wherein Cybertron’s two moons were surveyed, terraformed, and built up with refineries, mines, factories – and often prisons. Prisoners were a cheap source of labor for many major industrial players; many thousands of them were put to work in the service of the Empire in such a way. The moons often were used to test systems and ideas which would then be implemented on further-flung colonies; They became a major final destination for many political prisoners and dissenters, and, by the time of the Dusk Ages, a potent symbol of the systems of power which kept many ordinary Cybertronians under a fearful thrall.

The late Golden Age was a time of economic depression. As the early Golden Age had seen boom after boom, now came several recessions that seemed to lead into one another. The era was quickly nicknamed ‘the Dusk Ages’. Economic crises fueled widespread societal unrest; the problems which had long underlain the more successful earlier Golden Age came to the surface. There was widespread dissatisfaction with Cybertron’s leadership, the upper classes, the caste system itself; the injustices and exploitation that was rife among Cybertronian society saw to it that complaints would be heard one way or another. The recessions had hit the Southern industrial states particularly hard, and it was from there that the loudest voices began to call out against the system, the most influential of which was Megatronus and the Decepticon movement. The government responded by increasing internal security measures designed to suppress discontent rather than deal with it in a constructive way, which quickly became known as the Clampdown.

And from there, you already know the story…


	2. Biology: Frame Type Categorization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >> Frame Type— the basic endoskeletal structure, engine grade, size class and code inheritance [base coding, ancestral memory and overall blueprint sans personalisation] underlying any given mech's construction.

**G R O U N D F R A M E S—**

> Groundbound mecha, of the Thirteen descended from the Record-Keeper, the Muse, Solus the Creator and Alchemist the Philosopher.

**\+ G1 – Dexter:**  A second-generation code blueprint, evolved from the combination of heavy warbuilds and standards with throttles. The resulting frame-type is something of an all-rounder, with a lot of redundant systems, considerable strength and relatively high-level dexterity for their size classes. Dexters are the largest grounder frametype by far; while the aegis subclass can mass similarly to the largest throttles, eurus and rayet dexters range from 35’ to over 50’ tall. They tend towards leaner frames with limbs and chassis longer in proportion than the other heavy groundframes; usually broad-shouldered and often with twinned backstrut configuration in order to support their huge weight. Dexters in general are endurance workers; robust of constitution, fuel-efficient and virus-resistant. Despite that, they’re relatively rare: the great majority of particularly the eurus and rayet classes are preprograms employed in landbased freight haulage, while aegis dexters often find themselves marginalised into military support.

_Dexters are divided into three subclasses by size class, skeletal configuration and maximum range—_

  * Aegis [Size-Class 8-9] » Orion Pax/Optimus Prime, Perceptor, Motormaster
  * Eurus [Size-Class 10-11] » Elita One, Trailbreaker, Onslaught
  * Rayet [Size-Class 12] » Team Bullet Train, Inferno



**\+ G2 – Throttle:**  Built to pack as much strength as possible into their frames, throttles are a first-generation code blueprint descended from the original standards. Their entire design is configured for maximum endurance, resilience and power, proportionally far beyond that of any other frame type. As a result they tend to be massive and robust, with thick limbs, secondary and even tertiary strut and muscle cable sets and high-capacity engines, commonly standing between 23’ and 30’ tall. Throttles are a very common frametype for cold-constructed mecha, particularly in the construction and hard labour fields; throttles sparked for this purpose are often crossed over with the coefficient internal configuration, which allows them to run for much longer on the same rations. They’re very common in the lower castes for this reason, but the frametype carries a stigma within the higher castes as a direct result. 

_Throttles are divided into two subclasses by leg configuration and size class—_

  * Unguligrade [Size-Class 8] » Bulkhead, Brawl, Long Haul
  * Plantigrade [Size-Class 7] » Breakdown, Hoist, Boulder



**\+ G3 – Heavy Standard:**  The second-most common frame type, making up around 13% of the population. Originally part of the zero-generation ‘standard’ frametype, purported to be the basic Cybertronian frame by functional purists although this is backed up by little practical evidence - and directly contradicted by the histories told in the Mythos. The larger members of this group diverged from the smaller over time, eventually developing frame specifications and a code inheritance different enough that they were reclassified as their own frametype. Not quite as power-oriented as throttles, heavy standards did the jobs which required more power than light standards were capable of but a more delicate touch than throttles could give. Their code blueprints are, as the name suggests, quite standard, so they take to mods quite easily. Heavy standards are ubiquitous - you get them almost everywhere - and so while some heavies are specialised in certain practical ways, the official subclasses are based for the most part around the designs favoured in particular areas and/or cultures.

_Heavy Standards are divided into five subclasses by local design aesthetic—_

  * Austral [Size-Class 6] » Red Alert, Thunderblast
  * Boreal [Size-Class 6] » Ratchet
  * Equatorial [Size-Class 7] » Heatwave
  * Hesperidus [Size-Class 7] » Shockwave, Hot Spot, Blaster
  * Towers [Size-Class 5] » Hound, Hook



**\+ G4 – Light Standard:**  The most common frame type in existence, making up nearly 20% of the Cybertronian populace by themselves. While particularly common in high-decile grounder towns and cities such as Tyrest and the Torus States, they’re nevertheless present all over the planet, even in famously insular localities such as the Vos Range. Legend tells that the light standard code inheritance is descended from four of the Thirteen – the Record-Keeper, the Muse, the Philosopher and Solus the Creator, via the first two cold-constructed mecha in history, Frostfire and Electra. Light standards range hugely in general capability; they are stereotyped as being intelligent and cool despite being no more likely to score highly in those areas than any other frametype. Like heavy standards, they take to mods easily and are subgrouped by little more than design aesthetic. They tend to be the ‘default Cybertronian’, for better or for worse.  

_Light Standards are divided into ten subclasses by local design aesthetic—_

  * Iaconic [Size-Class 4] » Smokescreen
  * Tetrahexi [Size-Class 4] » Nightbeat, Glyph
  * Meridian [Size-Class 3] » Jolt, Drag Strip, Tracks
  * Urayan [Size-Class 4] » Dead End, Atomizer, Streetwise
  * Praxian [Size-Class 5] » Chase, Wheeljack
  * Tarnais [Size-Class 5] » Swindle, Lancer
  * Altihexi [Size-Class 3] »Greenlight
  * Tyrestrin [Size-Class 4] » Knock Out, Blurr
  * Kaoni [Size-Class 5] » Skids, Kup
  * Tyger Paxi [Size-Class 4] » Bumblebee



**\+ G5 – Minibot:**  Ranging in size from ‘small’ to ‘I might step on you if I’m not careful’, minibots are a first-generation descendant of the original standard frames, developed to take advantage of the small spaces which their larger brethren were too big to make use of. Despite rumors to the contrary, they are completely unrelated to Minicons, who are an entirely separate species of robotic being. As a rule Minibots are all 16’ tall or smaller, with the smallest – sylph subclass – being not much larger than some adult humans. Related to the ‘I might step on you if I’m not careful’ – they have developed a variety of defense mechanisms to counter the risk of being so small in a society of relative giants. Their subtypes are based around these, with compact minibots being extraordinarily strong, resilient and quickly-recovering from damage, whereas articulates and sylphs possess highly-developed spatial sensory arrays and are built for agility and speed – to avoid being stepped on in the first place. Of these, compact minibots are the most common, and tend to be what people think of when someone mentions minibots. 

_Minibots are divided into three subclasses by size class and skeletal configuration—_

  * Compact [Size-Class 3] » Cliffjumper, Tailgate, Swerve
  * Articulate [Size-Class 2] » Jazz, Firestar
  * Sylph [Size-Class 1] » Arcee, First Aid, Beachcomber



**F L I G H T F R A M E S—**

> Mecha capable of self-propelled flight, descended from the four flightframes among the Thirteen: Vector the Timekeeper, the Guiding Hand, the Guardian Wall, and Nexus the Sundered.

**\+ J1 **–** Light Jet:** A child code blueprint developed from the original zero-generation jets, light jets are small—rarely taller than about 28’, and the smallest, the so-called ‘super-light jets,’ go down to 12’ tall. They often have digitigrade legs, particularly if they’re small with relatively large back-mounted wings; the digitigrade configuration offsets the weight of their wings better against their center of balance and thus allows them greater stability than the standard plantigrade configuration. Light jets are the most common flightframe, making up a little over 10% of the total population. Since their population is mainly concentrated in cities around the Tagan Heights, most prominently Vos and Protihex, this can come as a surprise. 

_Light Jets are divided into four subclasses by size class, range, and altitude ceiling _—_  _

  * ‘Super-Light Jet’ [Size-Classes 1-3] » Harlequin*
  * Aurora-Class [Size-Class 5-6] » Swoop, Fireflight
  * Comet-Class [Size-Class 7] » Powerglide, Metalhawk
  * Meteor-Class [Size-Class 8] » Seaspray, Air Raid, Brainstorm



**\+ J2 **–** Rotary:** A second-generation code blueprint, sister-frame to the Seekers, developed during the last Quintesson War from a combination of heavy warbuilds, the original jets, throttles and the new VTOL rotary technology being introduced at the time. Also known in some areas as helos, rotaries in general are much stronger than their frames should imply—a hangover from the throttle coding. As well, they possess completely new flight vector algorithms required by the rotary flight mechanisms, the warbuild tactical computers, heavier armor than the Seekers’, and spark-deep weapons relays. They’re the odd ducks of the flightframe family, lacking the reputation for being insular that other flightframes do; most grounders – and more than a few fliers – don’t really consider them to be ‘true flightframes’. Attitudes like these are a problem particularly for rotaries living in predominantly flighted areas… one doesn’t expect much more of grounders, but fliers ought to know better.

_Rotaries are divided into two subclasses by size class, load capacity, range, and rotary mechanism _—_  _

  * Zephyr-Class [Size-Class 7] » Blades, Vortex, Whirl
  * Bolide-Class [Size-Class 10] » Blackout, Grindor



**\+ J3 **–** Heavy Jet:** The largest fully-atmospheric flightframe, developed from the heaviest and longest-ranged of the zero-generation jets, who sacrificed speed and maneuverability for the ability to go farther than anyone else. As a general rule they’re rare, usually hanging out on the fringes of light jet society or occasionally with their shuttle kin, with whom they share many traits. They range in size from 40’ to 60’ tall, being not quite as solidly-framed as shuttles but neither as finely-constructed as light jets or Seekers. Like the larger dexters, with whom they share size classes, they tend to find themselves in-demand for freight transportation; while their payload capacity isn’t nearly that of a shuttle they are exponentially cheaper to contract, needing far less fuel to fly the same distance with the same load provided they can stay in-atmosphere while doing so. 

_Heavy Jets are divided into four subclasses by ideal operation altitude, maximum range, and size class _—__

  * Napoli-Class [Size-Class 13] » Silverbolt
  * Merano-Class [Size-Class 12] » Afterburner
  * Carrara-Class [Size-Class 14] » Leeward*



**\+ J4 **–** Shuttle:** The largest transformation-capable frame type, shuttles are giants even when compared to their closest competitors, triplechangers and heavy jets. Even though their altmodes as a rule are mostly empty space, they are large enough that they have to dump large portions of their mass [mostly in struts and armor] in specialised subspace pockets in order to keep their root modes to a manageable size. As a spacefaring frame type, their strengths are in space-rated shielding and armor, incredibly powerful interstellar engines, and an ability to be largely self-contained. They’re nowhere near as sociable as their smaller cousins, with one foot permanently in the lone wolf camp, and if they spend too much time alone in space they can take a long while to acclimate to Cybertronian society again. They’re few enough in number that they don’t have a clearly-defined culture of their own—they, like heavy jets and rotaries, tend to hang around on the periphery of light jet and Seeker culture.  

_Shuttles are divided into four subclasses by size class and payload capacity _—__

  * Delta-Class [Size-Class 14] » Blast Off
  * Iota-Class [Size-Class 15] » Skyfire
  * Omega-Class [Size-Class 16] » Scattershot



**\+ J5 **–** Satellite:** A rare first-generation adaptation of the zero-generation jets, developed for non-atmospheric roles such as interplanetary monitoring, long-range broadcasting and surveillance. They have reduced and articulated wings, rendering them somewhat unwieldy in-atmosphere, but possess shuttle-grade shielding and armor, and the larger types are capable of interstellar travel. They are very specialised, and thus it is unusual to see one planetside rather than in orbit, although some found work as ground-based relays and data handlers. Their natural stomping ground being space rather than in-atmosphere, they’re usually very solitary and private, their coding requiring it so that they don’t exhaust themselves and/or go mad with loneliness while they’re up in orbit. Thus they, like shuttles, often suffer a bit of culture shock when they’re forced to spend a lot of time in close quarters with other mechs. They’ll often have lively online lives and spend most of their time hooked into the planetary and local Grids, but in person they have a reputation for being shy and awkward. 

_Satellites are divided into four subtypes based on size class, relay ability, and maximum range _ _—___

  * Perseid [Size-Class 6] » Cosmos
  * Lyrid [Size-Class 9] » Lightspeed
  * Eridanid [Size-Class 13] » Titian*
  * Tryptid [Size-Class 16] » Trypticon, Sky Lynx



**W A R F R A M E S—**

> Mecha dedicated to combat, descended from the four warframes of the Thirteen: Prima the Sword, the Wanderer, Liege Maximo the Burning Torch, and Megatronus the Shield.

**+ **M1 –** Heavy Warbuild:** A child of the original, ‘zero-generation’ frame type originally known simply as ‘warbuild’. Heavy warbuilds possess inbuilt weapons systems tied to spark-deep software relays, battle computers of varying capabilities, and complex emotional protocols and failsafes intended to deal with the stress of war. Warframes in general are an old frame specialisation, and have a complex culture all of their own, developed from a long time spent largely in isolation from most of the other classes. Heavy and light warbuilds were once considered part of the same frame type, but diverged from each other during the second-generation. Heavies differ from light warbuilds in the grade of armor, the average weight-to-size ratio, and the weapon capacity—heavy warbuilds are walking tanks. (Tanks are common altmodes, in fact.) They range from (relatively) small, light fighters who rely on speed and skill to massive hulks who simply bulldoze through anything in their way by dint of sheer armament, weight and physical power. 

_Heavy Warbuilds are divided into three subclasses by size class, combat role, and performance ability _ _—___

  * Chevalier-Class [Size-Class 5-6] » Drift, Flareup, Sunstreaker+Sideswipe
  * Reinforcer-Class [Size-Class 7-8] » Ironhide, Strika, Roadbuster
  * Frontliner-Class [Size-Class 9-10] » Megatron, Chromia



**+ **M2 –** Light Warbuild:** Sister-frames to the heavy warbuilds, light warbuilds fill niches left unfulfilled by the heavies. They’re usually less well-armored and more fuel-efficient, with processors dedicated more to the big picture than the actual process of combat. They and heavy warbuilds split during the second generation from the original warbuild, veering off towards ranged combat and support roles while the heavies concentrated on close-quarters. They’re the most common of the warframe classes, making up around 11% of the Cybertronian population. Like heavies, most light warbuilds are, despite the frametype designation, civilians working a great range of jobs – tactical processors, for example, are useful in fields as varied as marketing and politics. It is also not uncommon to see them working as civilian Enforcers or for private military contractors. Warframes working within the military industry have their own culture, and in some ways it is every bit as insular as that of the flightframes.

 _Light Warbuilds are divided into four subclasses based on skeletal configuration, size class, and intended combat role _ _—__  _  

  * Skirmisher-Class [Size-Class 5] » Bluestreak, Hot Rod, Moonracer
  * Scout-Class [Size-Class 4] » Mirage, Reflector**, Flamewar
  * Ranger-Class [Size-Class 5] » Barricade, Makeshift
  * Executive-Class [Size-Class 6] » Prowl



**+ **M3 –** Flighted Warbuild [Seeker]: **A second-generation code blueprint developed from the combination of light warbuilds and the original jets, resulting in a flightframe uniquely suited towards warfare. Seekers have the tactical computers, spark-deep weapons-system relays and armor grades of warframes, with performance optimums somewhere between the long-range endurance of heavy jets and the speed and agility of light jets. They also have a well-earned reputation for being passionate, demanding and very hard to keep up with. Historically they were known as flighted warbuilds, though the original glyph was eventually supplanted by one meaning ‘Seeker’, a barbed reference to both the search and destroy missions they were commonly assigned to, and the Seeker tendency for object fixation. The vast majority of Seekers form cadres of three – trines – exclusively with other Seekers, and have developed a rich – and rigid – culture all of their own. 

_Seekers are divided into three subclasses by armor grade, performance capabilities, and intended combat role _ _—___

  * Skirmisher-Class [Size-Class 7] » Slingshot, Dirge, Nosecone
  * Multirole-Class [Size-Class 8] » Starscream, Slipstream, Skydive
  * Bomber-Class [Size-Class 10] » Thundercracker, Cyclonus, Dreadwing+Skyquake



**\+ M4 **–** Triplechanger:** Second-generation code errors combined with uniquely adaptive protoforms resulted in the odd mech with the ability to take on more than one alt-mode. The coding requirements for this are exponentially more complicated than for a single alt-mode, and as a result triplechangers’ transformation sequences are more complicated and take longer than most mechs. Triplechangers are generally cold-constructed, purpose-built for military entities looking for adaptability and power in equal measure. Total mass-wise they are the second-largest frame type, and like shuttles deposit a fair percentage of their alt-mode mass in subspace pockets when they revert to root mode to keep themselves at a readily manageable size. They are still rare enough to turn heads, although the war has made them very desirable for both sides given their versatility. They have their own system configuration in order to handle the demands of their unique frames.

_Triplechangers are divided into two subclasses by size class _ _—__  _

  * Ouranos-Class [Size-Classes 9-12] » Sandstorm, Springer, Blitzwing
  * Thalassa-Class [Size-Classes 12-14] » Astrotrain



**○ M O N O P H A S E  F R A M E S—**

> A mechanical entity obtaining personhood by possession of a spark, which is unable to transform but nevertheless has its own life and function-desire. Usually paired with high-load AIs in order to deal with the huge data flow such frames produce.

**\+ C **1 –** Sparked City: **These are cities which possess sparks of their own and are locked in one form. They are capable of movement in that form but only under rare circumstances, and once placed they generally won’t move for anything short of a catastrophic meteorite impact. Sparked cities often form cold-forged bonds with keynote mecha, who then act as their custodians and companions. The first sparked city, designated Boreas, was placed in northern Meridian Territory during the dawning years of the Golden Age. As the Age of Expansion got underway a large number were established, but premiums in habitable land pushed further such developments offworld. Survivors on Cybertron include Metroplex and the underground cores of Crystal City, Hive City and Corumkan, although colony cities elsewhere in the galaxy could have easily survived unnoticed by the war.  

 **\+ C2 **–** Sparked Ship:** A ship or craft, which, like sparked cities, possesses a spark and is locked into a single form. Often a sparked ship will be paired with a bonded ‘keynote mech’ [somewhat different from array keynotes] or two who will look after the ship and act as its custodians where the ship themself is unable to, such as in procuring materials for repair from a third party. These keynotes often serve as flight captains and pilots for the ship. Tradition dictates that they were first developed in the Second Generation Quintesson wars, in which a pair of experimental sparked ships proved much more intuitive and able inside battle situations than the traditional AI or mech-piloted ships. They are prohibitively expensive to build due to needing a lot of basically everything, so only a relatively few were ever built. Of those few, the archetypal example is the  _Ark_ , former flagship of the Cybertronian Orbital Company, acquired at the beginning of the Great War by the Iacon Senate and inherited a couple hundred vorn later by the Autobot faction. Unlike sparked cities, sparked ships were generally commissioned by private corporations rather than governmental authorities. Legally they could be bought and sold – in fact doing so was highly advisable, as the sparked ship as a legal person seldom had the wherewithal to provide sufficient resources for themselves. Because it cost so much to spark and maintain them, during the Golden Age ownership – or custodianship, as it was termed – of a sparked ship was a symbol of great prosperity and status.

**N O T E S—**

*These names belong to Kem’s OCs. Feel free to ask for details.

**Reflector is also a fracturemech, one person in three bodies; fracturemecha are a particular system configuration developed from gestalt compatibility technology, taken to its logical conclusion. Each of his frames are scout-class warbuild, while his combined form is something all of its own.

 **+**  ‘Zero-generation’ refers to the Dynasty of Primes, the period of ancient Cybertronian history prior to the Cataclysm, from which few records survive. These are the original frametype classifications: Groundframe [later known as ‘Standard], Flightframe and Warframe. First-generation refers to the First Generation of Cybertronian history following the collapse of the Dynasty, during which those original three frametypes branched out through both natural evolution and deliberate development. Second-generation likewise refers to the Second Generation which came afterwards, preceding the Golden Age, during which the current frametype classifications were finalised.

 **+**  Just to put things into perspective… light standards, heavy standards, light jets, light warbuilds and throttles make up on average 70% of the Cybertronian population between them. Minibots, heavy warbuilds and heavy jets take the total up to 94%.

 **+**  Reformatting is expensive (unless you have a medic friend), difficult to adapt to and quite dangerous (unless the aforementioned medic is a brilliant all-rounder, or you can afford a team of medics for the procedure and aftercare). Prior to the war it was largely the preserve of those cadres with more money than sense, and still will get you looked at funny if you mention having had it done despite the war having made it more common as a last resort for saving a critically injured mech. [Wheeljack, incidentally, has been reformatted at least twice.] Reformatting a frame only is the recommended option for elective reformats – while it is possible to reformat your system configuration, it’s a lot more risky because you’re dealing with processor and spark, both of which are the highest-risk components to operate upon.

 **+**  The letter and number codes in front of each frametype are pronouns (Austral language families, including Austral Vulgate), which come in first-person formal, first-person informal, second-person informal, third-person formal, and third-person informal flavours. (There’s no second-person formal; in most Cybertronian languages it’s slightly rude to say ‘you’ in formal situations and some languages, like Tarnais for example, don’t even have an informal second-person pronoun. Generally you use your conversation partner’s name, or a combination of the third-person glyph with a simple modifier meaning ‘now this point in time’.) 

 **+**  Groundframes with sufficient efficiency rates and spark output can be modded for flight, but in this case are still considered to be their original frametype rather than a flightframe: for example, Tracks and Megatron, both flight-modded groundframes, use only light standard and heavy warbuild glyphs respectively.

 **+**  In general groundframes are more fuel-efficient than flightframes, as they don’t expend as much energy in getting around. Satellites and shuttles are the least fuel-efficient of all, as they spend a large amount of their time attempting to reach escape velocity, and braking from re-entry.

 **+**  Flightframes, should the mood take them, are perfectly capable of taking on aquatic rather than aerial alt-modes. An aquatic altmode generally cannot fly, and a flighted altmode generally cannot swim, but adapting either to the other is quite easily done.

 **+**  Sparked ships and sparked cities are considered mecha - ‘people’ - despite being unable to transform. AIs and non-sparked drones in contrast are largely treated as intelligent [or not-so-intelligent depending on the calibre of drone in question] tools, the exception being the AIs teamed with sparked ships or cities. Possession of a spark is the deciding factor.


	3. Biology: History of Frametype Divisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >> Frame Type: a social construct classifying mecha into groups based on the underlying structure of their frames and the intended purpose to which that underlying structure was developed.

The concept of frame types evolved from the mythological classification of the Thirteen into groups based upon the features of their frames: into  _Groundframe_  [the Record-Keeper, the Muse, Alchemist the Philosopher, Solus the Smith], _Flightframe_  [the Guiding Hand, the Guardian Wall, Vector the Timekeeper, Nexus the Sundered] and  _Warframe_  [Prima the Sword, the Wanderer, Liege Maximo the Burning Torch, Megatronus the Shield]. Amalgamous, the Star of Chaos, was given his own class, from which the extremely rare code permutation later to be known as Shifters derived their name. (Legend ascribes the Star of Chaos’ granddaughter, Abyssus, and great-grandson, Strigate, as having the ability, after which it leaves the standard of history until the late First Generation and the first documented studies of the frametype.)

Originally, all Cybertronians were classified as one of the three. There was a wide range of diversity within each frametype specification, as is evidenced by the classification of both the Timekeeper, noted as the smallest of the Thirteen, and the Guardian Wall, perhaps the largest, as Flightframes. Groundframes shared a common method of locomotion; likewise, all Flightframes shared a very different method. Identification as a Warframe depended upon the presence of integrated high-charge relays which were quickly adapted for weapons systems and combat readiness. It initially did not imply a particular method of locomotion - of the Warframes of the Thirteen, the Sword and the Shield were grounded, while the Wanderer and the Burning Torch were not. 

The distinction between the three groups very quickly came to dominate Cybertronian cultural practices. Cybertronians have always been happy to self-modify; close-knit societies shared coding, programs, alts and upgrades as a matter of course, and in passing these on to the coming generations diverged from each other to a huge degree in relatively little time. Evolution among Cybertronians is complicated by the existence of methods of reproduction both asexual and sexual; the fact that groups made up predominantly of cold-constructed mecha develop evolutionary innovations at almost the same rate as groups made up of predominant kindlemecha, who carry much more complex code blueprint lineages and ancestral data, lead most to believe that species-wide evolution amongst Cybertronians is a societally-driven occurence.

What is known is that by the time of the First Generation, the three-category system handed down from the Dynasty of Primes was beginning to divide further. The beginnings of a size-class based subcategorization was appearing within the Groundframe group, while the largest Flightframes were busy developing high-altitude and then spaceflight capabilities. The Warframe group had largely lost flight capabilities over the preceeding Ages, though it remained in some rare individuals. Groundframes had come to dominate after the Cataclysm, having adapted well to underground life, and now outnumbered the other groups by a significant margin. The initial subcategorisations made were the spaceframes, those Flightframes who began to specialise in high-altitude and superatmospheric flight; the largest Groundframes, throttles; and the smallest, minibots. 

The wars of the Second Generation saw a sudden surge in the engineering of new frames based on the extremes of ability found in each of the frametype categories. At first, it was limited; minibots got smaller, more agile, throttles grew larger and heavier, and flightframes swapped out groundbased competency for ever faster and further-ranging flight abilities. The spaceframes diverged between those whose abilities were suited better to distance work (the early shuttles) and close-range monitoring (satellites). 

Deliberate engineering crossed over code inheritances and blueprints found in individual members of the three original categories. The reinforcing and endurance of large throttles was blended with the high-charge relays and inbuilt weapons and battle coding of the larger warframes to produce dexters. Flight systems and coding were gradually reintroduced to the warframe line to produce flighted warbuilds, later to be known as Seekers. Basic systems were taken from the heavier grounders, twinned with flightframe coding and contemporary advances in turboprop and rotary technology to produce rotaries. Finally, the remaining Flightframes, Groundframes and Warframes were divided again into the Heavy and Light Standardframes (often shortened to Standards), Jets, and Warbuilds.

At the same time, the demands of the Quintesson Wars were being met by physiologists and engineers in the creation of extremely large Cybertronians; so large, in fact, that their T-cogs and transformation systems were no longer able to function in the traditional manner. The creators of these mecha got around this problem in two ways - by sacrificing the functionality of the T-cog entirely and outfitting the mech with enormous, advanced flight systems, or by partitioning the transformation systems so that certain sectors underwent large-scale transformations independent of an overarching pattern or mode. Both methods, while confining the mecha in question - soon dubbed ‘monophase’ - to a single root mode, removed the practical size limits imposed by the need for a singular inclusive altmode, thus granting the very first sparked ships and cities mass far beyond that which any one Cybertronian had ever dreamed of.

Thus began the Golden Age of empire, riding on a wave of Cybertronian diversity and adaptation.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \+ I forgot to put triplechangers on the diagram, but that’s okay ‘cause they’re more closely related to the Shifters than anyone else, who get their own headcanon post. :V


	4. Culture: the Caste System

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **C A S T E—**  
>  Stratified social groupings defining which rank a mech occupied in gatherings, his ritual status in the Mythos, what jobs he could do, the level of education to which he was entitled, which people he could talk to with which level of [in]formality and what pronoun groups he was referred to by.

The Caste System in its original form was a fairly simple seven-tiered linear system, in which each tier led into the ones above and below it with little ceremony and clear boundaries between the castes. It was one of a number of measures introduced in the early Golden Age to slow Cybertron’s population growth and resource footprint to rates which the Empire could sustain. At the time it was a popular measure among rich and poor alike, across the globe; it was presented and enforced alongside a comprehensive overhaul of the legal system which gave unprecedented support and protection to traditionally undervalued members of society, which lent it legitimacy despite the drastic restrictions it posed, especially to those designated lower-caste.

Each tier was divided into several castes, most of these profession-based. Small castes based around legal status or religious alignment did exist; Towersmecha, for example. Within each caste were subcategorizations known as  _clades_ : typically divided by rank and place of employment into groups of between two and six hundred mecha. These were an ‘extended family’ of a sort, consisting of many closely linked cadres gathered around a common cause - for example, a major employer. Prior to the introduction of the caste system ‘clade’ had been more or less analogous to ‘tribe’, and the primary social grouping to which mecha identified as belonging to. Under the caste system much of this importance was ascribed to caste and tier instead. Clades became inclusive rather than exclusive, and growing exogamy forged strong bonds between similarly-ranked such entities. Cybertronian society became much more unified as a result.

The castes were quickly adopted into the Mythos, which despite having previously been something of an equal-opportunity belief system, fit itself into the new system with little theological difficulty. Cybertronian society had been divided into ranks more or less enforced since the time of the Dynasty – it was nothing that the priesthood hadn’t dealt with before. Under the caste system even the lowest priests occupied the high tiers; this was a powerful incentive. The Mythos itself took on new aspects, weaving the tiers of the caste system into rituals and methods of worship, and even writing new canon in order to enshrine the tiers of caste in religious validation.

The caste system’s primary supporter [and enforcer] was big business. Limited social mobility and opportunity for change meant that employers essentially now had a captive workforce on which to build their fortunes. Soon after the advent of the caste system came a boom in cold-construction, and the beginning of a system which came very close to slave labour. By law, cold-constructed mecha were required to pay back the amount which had been expended upon their creation; until they did so, they were expected to work for the benefit of their creators and could be legally required to continue doing so. This system was vulnerable to abuse – and abuse did happen, on a vast scale. Such mecha were provided by their employers with housing, fuel, and basic medical care, the cost of which was then added to their creation debt and increased the amount of repayments being drawn from their wages. This was an entirely legal – and ‘fair’ – method by which companies across Cybertron kept their workforces docile and under their total control.

Over time, the carefully-orchestrated boundaries between castes began to shift. Specialised sub-castes, and inter-caste rankings, began to appear. An eighth caste - the ‘Untouchables’ - was added during a time of deep depression and social unrest, in order to take in the people even the seventh tier didn’t want. By this time, few were alive who could recall life without castes: social expectation and the pressure of history had largely replaced active reinforcement. Those in power took advantage of these pressures to deal with most malcontents, resorting to legal or financial penalties only to deal with those mecha hardheaded enough to withstand the judgement of their peers. 

By the Dusk Ages and the beginning of the Great War, the system had solidified into an exceedingly restrictive and heavily stratified monolith. Social mobility was greatly limited; moving upwards into a higher-ranked clade or caste within one’s own tier was doable, but uncommon, and being downgraded into a lower-ranked grouping, or a subordinate rank within one’s own caste, was often used as a punishment. The social strata at play had encouraged bureaucracy; by the Dusk Ages government was a massive, multi-leveled construct often only semi-official. While the social pressure for changes both small and large was massive, the structure of government was unable to efficiently deal with it. What was approved by officials at one level was stymied at another, greatly removed from the context which had created the measure. The end result was that social development slowed, then stagnated completely. Cybertronian society became a pressure cooker. 

[And we all know what happened next…]


	5. The Mythos: the Broadstreams and the Books of History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **The Mythos—**  
>  >> A collective of myths, legends, rites, beliefs, traditions, ancestral wisdom and cultural practices passed down through the ages to the present day. Often used as an umbrella term encompassing early Cybertronian history as well.

The  _Mythos_  is the collective term for the native Cybertronian religious and spiritual systems that grew up during the First Generation of Cybertronian history, primarily based upon the semi-mythical age of the Dynasty of Primes, which were said to be descended from the Thirteen and ultimately from Primus. It governs the lives and times of virtually everyone within the Cybertronian Empire.

> **\+ Broadstreams—**

The traditions of the Mythos have not been collected in a single format since the very early days of known Cybertronian history, in which time the extent of civilization encompassed only the plains of Centralia, south and west of the Sea of Rust, and into the sparsely populated border regions of the Southern and Tagan  _rus_. Over many millennia the planet-wide spread of Cybertronian civilization has resulted in the development of thousands of geographically and theologically distinct traditions within the collective Mythos. These thousands of individual traditions come together under six major regional umbrella groupings, referred to as _broadstreams._

The Broadstreams are designated as follows:

  * **Imperial Pentarchate –**  the official religious line of the Imperial Government, most influential among the Boreal States and on the Empire’s External Territory planets;  _orange on the map_
  * **Occidens (Western) Orthodox –**  the primary traditions within the old Centralian civilizations south and west of the Sea of Rust, considered the purest relic of the original Mythos;  _blue on the map_
  * **Oriens (Eastern) Orthodox –**  the traditions of the Gateway and Torus States, much influenced by the historical Tagan Rus;  _green on the map_
  * **Pax Enigma –**  centered around Tyger Pax in the far eastern hemisphere, highly influenced by the Second-Generation social upheaval of the Quintesson Wars and the Miracles of Tyger Pax;  _purple on the map_
  * **Ordo Rige –**  the traditions of the Plateaux States and the high country east of the Torus States, highly influenced by the Tagan and Austral Rus, developed alongside the more widespread Ordo Austrum;  _yellow on the map_
  * **Ordo Austrum –**  the southern tradition of belief, descended from Oriens Orthodox through the Austral Rus and the closest relative of Ordo Rige;  _red on the map_



The  _Imperial Pentarchate_  is an artificial grouping of the conservative Oriens Orthodox beliefs held by the Towers clans which oversaw the founding of the Cybertronian Empire and the transferral of secular and religious power to Iacon at the advent of the Golden Age. Its creation was one of several engineered social changes embarked upon by the early Iaconian governments; along with the imposition of the caste system, it was one of the factors which allowed for such a successful planetary unification under the banner of the Cybertronian Empire.

Imperial beliefs tend to center around the concept of obedience toward Prime and Primus above all other concerns. Imperial canon establishes that the Prime is not merely Primus’ representative but also a part of Primus and thus not entirely mortal. Primus alone is wholly divine, but lends his power and divinity to others closely associated with him; the Thirteen, for example. Worship and duty towards the Primes are conducted on one’s own behalf only; a mech’s spiritual concerns are his alone to deal with. This emphasis on the individual results in a lot of very small, very exclusive religious practices, often unique to one or two clades and passed on in a primarily hereditary manner. 

 _Occidens Orthodox_  is grouping of the beliefs focused around the old Centralian plains from which Cybertronian civilization evolved, and is considered by many scholars and theologians to be the ‘purest relic’ of the beliefs of the old Centralian civilizations and therefore of the Dynasty of Primes. It was for a very long time the tradition which was claimed by the Primes and the central Cybertronian Court, before being usurped by the Imperial Pentarchate; since then its practices have declined in relevance outside of the old Centralian centers of civilization. 

Occidens Orthodox is highly ritualistic, and encourages mecha to work together to achieve spiritual goals. Local variation in beliefs and practices is low, due to high historical social mobility and a focus on public and community worship. Divinity is not an aspect of Primus but a state conferred by righteousness and spiritual achievement; the Occidens pantheon includes the Thirteen and several members of the Dynasty as well as a great many of the pre-Iaconian Primes. Occidens also contains an emphasis on spoken word and the sharing of stories. The religious cycle of events and the public worship inherent within them is a hugely important part of the Occidens lifestyle, and aside from the adoption of the system of Dances from Pax Enigma, has survived unchanged for thousands of millennia.

The traditions of the  _Oriens Orthodox_  sprang up from the eastward migrations into the Torus Seaboard and the foothills of the Tagan Heights, the region known historically as the Tagan Rus. The Rus was first settled during the middle First Generation, as the Centralian population rapidly expanded and many sought for open spaces outside of the heavily populated Centralian States; the wide-open spaces of the resource-rich Rus encouraged the development of systems of worship that did not have to rely upon the structures the settlers had left behind in Centralia. As the Rus’ population grew and cities sprung up, the emphasis on the individual remained, and the resulting cities took on an atmosphere far more secular in nature than those in the west.

Oriens Orthodox shed much of the emphasis on communal worship and collective responsibility, creating a system of belief that suited the rural and often lonely nature of colonial life. Oriens beliefs stripped the Occidens pantheon of much of its divinity, but retained worship of those figures as ancestors and created the category of ‘stellates’ to encompass them, neither divine nor mortal but something in between. Oriens thinkers developed the system of the Five Pillars: Prayer, Icons, Vigils, Devotions, and Patronage, by which individuals express their beliefs without the aid of a church around them. Where Occidens emphasises verbal communication, early Oriens contained a concerted effort in literature, and a large proportion of the Books of History were penned by Oriens monks.

 _Pax Enigma_  came forth from the period of social upheaval between the Second and Third Quintesson wars, coinciding with the advent of the Lords Protector eras and the series of awesome phenomena known to history as the Miracles of Tyger Pax. Tyger Pax during the Second Generation was largely cut off from the outside world by the geographical boundaries of the Main Divide and the Mare Occidentalis, and under the stresses of the successive Quintesson Wars it became a pressure cooker for its inhabitants. When the city’s ruling class proved unable to care adequately for the lower classes, eight Occidens priests took over the running of the lower city and managed to get them through the war almost unharmed, while the invading Quintessons had a hell of a time fighting off solar flares and earthquakes, and a reported army of Cybertronian ghosts, among other things. 

It is primarily descended from Occidens Orthodox, and likewise it shares an emphasis upon ritual and public aspects of worship and celebration. Community and togetherness is extremely important; Pax Enigma holds that Primus is not one singular entity but three working seamlessly as one – referred to as the Crowned One (representation of divine rule), the Collared One (representation of a leader’s duty to his flock) and the Armored One (representation of protection of the weak). Predestination – the idea that every outcome is preordained by Primus – is also a major facet, and the system of Dances (festivals characterised by the relinquishment of worldly duties and concerns to pay respects to one’s beliefs) is an invention of Pax Enigma. 

 _Ordo Rige_  is an offshoot of Oriens Orthodox, centered around the Plateaux States in the northern reaches of the Tagan Heights. It was created in the interactions between the eastward-migrating modern Oriens cultures of the Torus Seaboard and the ancestral Oriens of those which had moved into the Tagan Heights many generations previously, and also bears a strong Arachnicon influence, the Plateaux States sharing much of their territory with that of the Arachnicon queens. The first record of a native Plateaux broadstream dates to the very early years of the Golden Age; prior to then, the highland states considered themselves part of the Oriens Orthodox broadstream.

Oriens descent lends Ordo Rige a preference for individual and private worship, and an exclusive definition of divinity limiting it to a state of Primus-like infalliibility. Ancestor worship is prevalent: the high proportion of cold-constructed mecha in the area makes traditional Oriens ancestral tracking unfeasible, so Ordo Rige adopted the Arachnicon tradition of communal ancestry, in which locality of origin rather than code inheritance determined ancestry. The Ordo Rige calendar of events also recognises several Arachnicon celebrations, the Queens’ Flight among others, and borrows several forms of ritual from them in lieu of native Oriens ones that did not work well in the fractured, always changing environment of the Plateaux States.

 _Ordo Austrum_  was formed during the settling of the resource-rich Austral Rus in the early Second Generation. As happened with the settling of the Tagan Rus, the lack of social structures faced by the early settlers resulted in a more individualistic form of worship and belief, but closer communication between settlers and a faster population growth rate meant that many facets of the old Occidens beliefs  were not discarded entirely but simply saved for the most important celebrations and rituals. Ordo Austrum also interacted with Pax Enigma and Oriens Orthodox, absorbing many facets of their canons. It contains the broadest spectrum of beliefs of all the broadstreams, and as a result has gained a reputation for religious tolerance.

It is primarily composed of a mix of Oriens and Occidens traditions, in varying percentages; Kaon and Slaughter City in the polar regions and west to Tarn tend toward Occidens’ focus on communal worship and ritualism, where Blaster City eastward to Hexima and north to Centurion come closer to Oriens’ private self-determinism. Like Occidens it embraces a broad pantheon of divinities and a massive range of half-divine stellates and heroes, categorised by their actions into Warriors (those who fought), Philosophers (those who thought), Mothers (those who cared for others), and Primes (which were often a blend of the former three categories). Ancestor worship is prevalent among the lower ranks of society regardless of religious alignments.

> **\+ The Books of History—**

These are the collection of early texts describing the historical period of the Dynasty of Primes, during which early Cybertronians settled the plains of Centralia and developed a sophisticated societal structure which was subsequently mostly destroyed by the Cataclysm. The Books were adopted gradually into the broadstreams of the Mythos as a religious canon, and by the early Golden Age the events described within the six Greater Books were accepted as historical fact.

Although their main subject was the transmission of the history which was accepted as truth at the time, the largely anonymous authors of the individual Books seldom limited themselves to historical discussion alone. The texts often switch from subject to subject, scene to scene, without warning, and may include charts, maps, illustrations, lineages, prescribed rituals and prayers relevant to the topic, and other such easter eggs.  

The Greater Books of History are six in number, and most traditions treat their reading and understanding as a prerequisite. They include the following:

  * _the Book of Lineages –_ A collection of introductory topics regarding the five following books, including descriptions of the early Houses, a  _dramatis personae_  of the major figures of the Dynasty, the reverent forms appropriate to each of the Thirteen, and the myths of Primus’ battles with Unicron, the enframing of the Thirteen, and the battle which drove Unicron into eternal slumber. 
  * _the Book of Song –_  A description of the world which greeted the victorious Thirteen, and the civilization they set about carving out of it. Contains the earliest known Cybertronian calendar, credited to Vector the Timekeeper himself, the founding charters of the proto-cities of the First City, and the myths which deal with the rampage of Megatronus the Shield and the insurrection of Liege Maximo the Burning Torch.
  * _the Book of Descendants –_ Primarily a detailed genealogy of the members of the Dynasty kindled during the reign of Rhodian Prime, the third to hold the Matrix after Prima’s death, including even several prominent cold-constructs under the banners of the Houses they were beholden to. The book also contains the story of Genesis Prime and her successor Rhodian, describing the ultimate origins of the Cousins’ War which would later wrack the Dynasty.
  * _the Book of Rest –_  A description of spiritual life during the early Dynasty, spanning from the first dozen generations after the Thirteen to the approach of the Cataclysm. Contains a huge collection of myths and legends regarding members of the Dynasty both prominent and obscure, and the first list of prescribed prayer forms and ritual practices in the Books.
  * _the Book of War –_  The chronicle of the Cousins’ War, from the early power struggles during the first vorn of Rhodian’s reign to its slow and torturous end after the death of Abyssus. The largest of the Greater Books, and arguably the easiest to read.
  * _the Book of Dynasty –_  A description of the restoration period following the Cousins’ War, during which the Dynasty rebuilt itself from the ground up, and of the institution of the social structures by which the later First and Second Generations would conduct themselves.



By contrast, the Lesser Books of History number some two thousand in total. The great majority are either recognised or canonised by all six broadstreams, though two hundred and eighty lack recognition in at least one. For the most part they include at least some aspects of history, at least as accepted by the broadstreams, but additional topics can be many and varied. 

The Lesser Books of History include:

  * _Transformation_ – A myth explaining the origin of the transformation cog and the forms of the alt-modes which early Cybertronians took. Something of a sparklings’ story.
  * _the Book of Children_  – The story of the Thirteen’s first children: Primon, Logos and Basilea, kindled in a vast and empty world. Also a popular sparklings’ story
  * _the Well of All Sparks_  – The story of Solus’ discovery of the Well of All Sparks, and of her quest to create new life from it, resulting in the first cold-constructed mecha, Frostfire and Electra.
  * _Unicron Quelled_  – A lengthy prophecy in the form of a poem, which predicts Unicron’s awakening under the sign of the planetary alignment.
  * _The First World_  – A myth describing the concepts of the Four Worlds: The Pits, The Well of All Sparks, the Lower World and the First World, told in a sparklings’ story describing the journey of the hero Strigate, son of Abyssus and Rhodian, on a journey to find his murdered lover Persephone.
  * _the Book of Death_  – A sort of how-to guide regarding how to mourn after a death in the family, particularly the rituals to cleanse one’s living family of the impurities of death and how to prevent the deceased’ spark from falling victim in its return to the Well to the shade of Mortilus. Considered compulsory reading, unlike the majority of the Lesser Books.
  * _Prima’s Vigil_  – A myth, written in poetic form, describing the mortally injured Prima’s last moments under the watchful optic of his granddaughter Persephone, and his Ascension into the First World on the moment of spark death. Considered a companion to Vector’s Flight, and often associated with the Book of Song.
  * _Accompaniments_  – A detailed Second-Generation collection of prayer forms and ritual practices applicable to ordinary life across social strata. One of the most widely-reproduced of all the Books, there’s one in almost every home the world over. 
  * _the Book of Rain_  – A description of Rhodian’s flight down the outside of the Primal Tower to escape Abyssus’ clutches. Strongly associated with the Book of War, and often reproduced alongside it. Tends to be given as a gift to someone recovering from injury or trauma.
  * _the Book of Rust_  – The story of the rusting sickness brought to Centralia by an agent of Abyssus’, the efforts of the Court physicians to halt its advance, the murder of Persephone and her resurrection by Strigate’s efforts. A companion to the The First World.
  * _the Covenants_ – A series of five short texts describing aspects of the Dynasty and affirming the responsibility of the Primes toward their peoples: the Covenants of Prima, Matrix, Kingship, Divinity and Ascension. There is a sixth claimant - the Covenant of Primus - but this is controversial and the book itself is recognised by none of the current broadstreams.
  * _the Dawn Charter_  – The founding charter of the the proto-city of Tyger Pax, late in the Dynasty. The only surviving founding charter from that age, used as a basis for the charters of every modern settlement throughout the Second Generation and the Golden Age.
  * _Biographos Abyssus_  – The biography of Abyssus, the instigator of the Cousins’ War and a figure of wrath and evil on the level of the Fallen Primes themselves. Tends to be included with The Fallen Ones as a warning of what not to do with oneself.
  * _Biographos Enceladus_  – The biography of the cold-construct Enceladus, Abyssus’ eventual killer, and the fifth to bear the Matrix after Prima, under whose reign the cold-construct laws were repealed and Well-born mecha became full citizens for the first time.
  * _The March of the Defenders_  – An epic poem telling the story of the sack of the First City by Abyssus’ armies and the long march by the forces of Tyger Pax to join the city’s defenders before Abyssus killed them all. Strongly associated with the Book of War, which tells the same story, but considered separate due to the poetic format. Compulsory reading throughout the Empire’s military schools.
  * _the Book of Mountains_  – A geographical description of the countries of the Dynasty, containing early maps and notes on the various border civilizations. One of the few surviving primary sources regarding the civilizations of the Predacons.
  * _Hagios_  and  _Kyrios_ – A pair of ancient texts claimed to have been copied from the writings of the Sixth Prime, Libera. Hagios describes the daily lives of the Prime’s Court and the rituals and processes undertaken by those close to the Prime; Kyrios is a description of the secular part of the Court, based around the Prime’s Councils. The Primal Court and Senate of the Golden Age were heavily influenced by the prescriptions made in both books. 
  * _Vector’s Flight_ – A poem, companion to Prima’s Vigil, which recounts Vector’s self-sacrifice in sending the Fallen Megatronus elsewhere in time and space in an attempt to save Prima from destruction.
  * _The Fallen Ones_  – A set of short texts devoted to the Fallen members of the Thirteen, Megatronus the Shield, who fell victim to the emotions of his spark, and Liege Maximo the Burning Torch, whose indulgence of his gifts for manipulation and encouragement led him to evil. Discusses the concept of the Pits, and the deeds which might attract them to a spark. 



Most of the Lesser Books date back to the early Second Generation. Though many claim to date from further back, these claims cannot generally be verified even by the flimsy proof which is all that the Mythos demands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> – The Covenant of Primus referred to herein is obviously not the one used in the Aligned continuity; this one is a controversial text referring to the early days of the Thirteen which assert that the relationship between Primus and Unicron is rather different than previously asserted; the unattributed author holds forth therein on the nature of good and evil, sin and innocence, and comes to conclusions not shared by the official party line. It’s a banned book; naturally, the few copies in existence are in high demand.


	6. The Mythos: the Thirteen and the First Children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for general nastiness, mention of rape and torture and violent death. [Mostly that’s in the second part, but better safe than sorry, right?] The Dynasty were not nice people.

##  _\+ The Thirteen_

**The Sword**   _[Prima]_ — The first of the Thirteen to emerge from the Well, Primus’ favoured child. A warframe, his artifact was the Matrix, a mechanism the true value of which became apparent only after his death. Prima became the de facto leader of the Thirteen and the first sovereign of the nascent Cybertronian state. He developed deep relationships with Megatronus, with whom he kindled Primon and Core; Solus, who bore him Eos; and Liege Maximo, who sired upon him Aquila and Armadere. He adopted Frostfire, the first cold-constructed mech, and many others besides, and is one of the mecha credited with the inspiration of the cadre unit. Prima was a warrior monarch out of necessity, guarding the Dynasty from Predacons and the other natural predators which existed at the time. He met his end in a climactic battle against his own lover, Megatronus, leading the Fallen Prime into the wilderness where he, assisted by Vector, eventually succeeded in defeating Megatronus only to succumb gradually to his own wounds. He was guarded in the final hours of his life by his granddaughter Persephone, and survived long enough to pass the Matrix onto Primon, who took up his mantle as Prime. He and Solus are considered deities somewhere between the level of Primus and the rest of the Thirteen. Prima is strongly associated with the light of Cybertron’s sun; his shrines are always built on the right of Primus’ altar, his masses held at sunrise and sunset. His role is that of a guardian and protector, wisdom and strength in equal measure. 

 **The Record-Keeper**   _[true name not recorded]_ — Kindled mere seconds after Prima, and born second of the Dynasty, though he held himself separate from his siblings throughout his life. His artifact was the Book of Hours, in which all futures were recorded, and it is said that the pain engendered by his knowledge of these futures drove him to solitude out of necessity, in order to retain his sanity. His death is never recorded; he simply slips out of the records as the vorns pass. The last recorded act ascribed to him is the tie-breaking vote which allowed Genesis Prime to ascend despite the prophecy - the Record-Keeper’s own - which assured that she would bring destruction to the Dynasty on a scale far surpassing any before. He has few shrines or dedicated altars; they tend to be built in the back of libraries and most universities will have one or two. Students tend to pray to him before big exams.

 **The Wanderer**   _[true name not recorded]_ —A warframe, thought to have been Liege Maximo’s lover. Little is recorded about her, and even less in reputable sources. Her artifact is the Star Saber, often misattributed to Prima as it was handed down to successive Dynastic Primes alongside the Matrix. Her death is recorded twice in the annals of the Dynasty: once during Liege Maximo’s coup, facing down her erstwhile lover, and once several vorn later, defending the ascendant Prime Enceladus from Abyssus’ onslaught. It is unsure which is the correct version, or even if both have some truth, hyperbole being a popular literary device in early Cybertronian literature. Throughout Cybertron, she is revered as a distant guardian, a lookout of sorts. Her shrines are typically built at the top level or on the roof of buildings so that she may keep watch over their inhabitants and ward off evil. 

 **The Muse**   _[true name not recorded]_ — A groundframe, beloved of poets and wordsmiths and those who deal with written works. Like the Wanderer, little is recorded; however he is said to have been closely involved with both the Guiding Hand and with Alchemist, with whom he kindled several children. He is the carrier of the Second Child, Logos. Meridian oral tradition maintains that he founded the city during Solomus Prime’s reign, after which he, like many of his siblings, disappears from the record books entirely. Several Towers clade inheritance lines claim to descend directly from him. He is the patron of language and song; legend has it that he sang throughout the battle with Unicron and that his words and voice gave his siblings the strength to fight on when all seemed lost. Mecha make devotions at his shrines when they are in need of a little extra hope.

 **The Timekeeper**   _[Vector]_ — The smallest of the Thirteen according to the recovered original paneling in the Dawn Basilica which depicts the great battle against Megatronus. Vector was gifted with the ability to manipulate space and time, which he used to great effect in the battle against Megatronus, flinging the Fallen across the lightyears between Cybertron and the edge of the universe. For this feat he paid a great sacrifice, sending himself an equal distance in the other direction. It is said that he has forsaken physical form and now spends the aeons watching over the time stream, making gentle adjustments here and there so that the delicate balance is never upset. He therefore represents one’s destiny and future; unlike the rest of the Thirteen he is seldom a recipient of prayer, as to do so is seen as tempting Fate. He is represented in most religious illustrations by a simple set of scales.

 **The Smith**   _[Solus]_ — The great engineer of the Thirteen, the most productive and universally respected of the Thirteen. A groundframe whose awe-inspiring creations provided the Thirteen with the foundations for many great advances of the Dynasty, she was the sixth to be kindled. Her artifact was the Forge, the creative power of which was matched only by her boundless vision. Solus is widely credited with the founding and designs of many of the most ancient Centralian cities, the engineering of the original Palace of the Primes in Tyger Pax, and the Catacombs beneath the First City, among many other places of historical and architectural significance. She formed a close bond with Nexus and Prima, and kindled with both; however according to the oldest stories lost all but two of the newsparks she bore. Perhaps with this in mind, she became the originator of the cold-construction technique, building hundreds of new Cybertronians and calling forth their sparks from the energy of the planet. Solus was renowned as a warrior as well as a creator, wielding a hammer in battle, but met her end at the hands of her own brother, Megatronus. Like Prima, she is revered on a scale unmatched by the rest of the Thirteen. After her death, legend has it that the ground itself opened up beneath her lifeless frame and took her into itself, forming the massive steep-sided cavern which over the eons has come to be called the Well of All Sparks. She is linked to life and fertility almost as Primus himself; her purview is the creation of life whereas Primus’ is the living of it. Needless to say, she is one of the most popular recipients of prayer, and her shrines and altars are on almost every level and street corner.

 **The Burning Torch**   _[Liege Maximo]_ — The great traitor, who fled to the stars when faced by Primon’s sword. His artifact, if indeed he had one, still lies with him, and is unknown to modern historians. Theories as to his motive for turning on the Dynasty range from a thirst for power to rejected love, and the story of his resultant exile varies in the telling from state to state. Whatever the cause of it, he was the second of the Dynasty to Fall from Primacy - but unlike Megatronus, he survived, and became the ruler of everything dark in Cybertron and beyond. Hearsay dictates that he met with Pyroxene somewhere beyond Cybertron’s system, and from their shared sparks came the three Pillars of the Pit: Pyr, Tethys and Pan. His death was never truly recorded, and it is posited that he is still alive out in the void somewhere. Fire is his symbol and he gives his patronage to pain and evildoing. Like Unicron, he is spoken of in hushed voices.

 **The Philosopher**   _[Alchemist]_ — The deep thinker of the Thirteen, traditionally a flightframe. A scientist and seeker of knowledge, he was said to have forsaken material wealth and comfort in order to fuel his hunger for learning. Closely related to the Record-Keeper and the Guiding Hand, though he is considered more a patron of discovery than of either knowledge or wisdom itself. The famous Academy of Sciences in Crystal City is dedicated to him, as are many other educational facilities around the planet. He is seldom the recipient of prayer or dedication, save for many research papers which cite him in their sources, a tradition which seems to have been going for as long as mecha have been writing them. Few notable shrines are dedicated to him; of the few, the Flute Church in Crystal City is the most well-known. Legend has it that he made many of his most important discoveries on the site, prior to the building of the Church.

 **The Guiding Hand**   _[true name not recorded]_ — Renowned as one of the wisest and longest-lived of the Thirteen, a flightframe of whom little is truly known but much is guessed. His skill in the air is the most well-documented aspect of his character, and the royal line of Vos claims direct descent from him through his budded son Hyperion. He acted as an advisor for successive Primes up until his death during the plagues of the late Dynasty. Like Alchemist and the Record-Keeper he is revered from day to day as a representation of earthly wisdom; mecha making important decisions in their lives will pray to him or make dedications at temples founded in his name. He is also considered the patron of parents and mentors, and is embodied in the wind. Logos, his eldest child, is said to do penance for his wrongs under the Guiding Hand’s careful watch.  

 **The Star of Chaos**   _[Amalgamous]_ — The first recorded Shifter, from whom all Shifters throughout history can thank for their code inheritance. A contrary figure among the Thirteen, respected for his ingenuity and vision and yet decried for his mischief, said to be a harbinger of bad luck. Ships are often dedicated to him in the hope that the flattery will prevent him from playing havoc with them on their voyages. He famously budded his spark to create the Third Child, Basilea, and almost killed himself in the process, destabilising his spark to the extent that even Solus could do nothing to help him. He survived, however, and devoted his life to Basilea and her children in turn. It is said in some traditions that he assisted Abyssus during the Cousins’ War, some claiming that the vision sent to Logos which induced him to free her from imprisonment came from Amalgamous. His shrines are always well-stocked with energon supplies thanks to the nature of his preferred devotions; he is a patron of the poor and downtrodden, and priests dedicated to Amalgamous often open their shrines to those who need shelter or are energon-starved. Mecha who feel guilty and mecha who have been convicted of crimes typically pray to him, both in the hope that he will cover up their transgressions and to show that they feel the appropriate remorse. He is associated with rain and storms and the changing weather; his symbol is ball lightning.

 **The Guardian Wall**   _[true name not recorded]_ — The largest of the Thirteen, compared at the time to the Predacons but now thought to have been an early shuttle frame. The Guardian Wall is said to have roamed the wastes of Cybertron alone, patrolling the disputed borderlands to make sure that the Dynasty remained safe from attack. She was never recorded as being anything but solitary, so it is likely that her son, Genera Pacis, was budded rather than conventionally kindled. Little is written about her, but the southern Polar regions have a rich oral history dedicated to her treks among the ancient populations of Cybertron. She is venerated as a watcher and a guardian of travellers, and it is common to make a dedication - most often prayers and things of small value - at a shrine founded in her name before leaving one’s home state.

 **The Sundered**   _[Nexus]_ — A major mover and shaker among the Thirteen, one of the youngest but never content to stay in the background. Nexus is recorded as having had the ability to split into five component bodies, though each of these bodies is simultaneously referred to as ‘Nexus’, indicating that the overall configuration was more like a fracturemech than a gestalt - one mind in five bodies rather than five minds in one linked body. Legend tells that he was originally one singular frame which was torn into five pieces during the battle with Unicron; in order to save his life, Solus made each of the five capable of supporting his spark and senses. He and Solus became very close afterwards, Nexus assisting Solus in her creative endeavours while she gradually perfected the repairs to his frames. Though Solus is credited as the inventor of the cold-construction method, Nexus is given the role of her co-inventor. After her death he assisted for a long time in the rule of the Primes, passing away during the seventy-fifth generation of the Dynasty. He is revered as an ancestor and intermediary between the Dynasty and Primus, and often is petitioned to intercede with greater or more distant deities on the praying mech’s behalf.

 **The Shield**   _[Megatronus]_ — The Last of the Thirteen to emerge from the Well. Megatronus is a figure both revered and reviled – said to have been the kindest of the Thirteen at one stage, yet the first of them to Fall. Legend says that Primus shared with him the gift of empathy, and that empathy is said to have caused Prima to fall in love with him while they battled Unicron together. After Unicron’s defeat, they were the first to explore love, and together they kindled the First Child, Primon. However, during their battle against Unicron, the chaos god had planted the seed of evil within Megatronus, and it found an opportunity to take root with Prima’s burgeoning friendship with Solus. Megatronus withdrew rather than confront him, and in the time it took Prima to realise that this was not one of Megatronus’ ordinary lonelinesses, the seed of the Fallen was raised. Megatronus, assisted by his daughter Core, sought out Solus and in a fit of jealous madness murdered her. When the madness drained away, the guilt of what he had done drove Megatronus to the brink and pushed him over. Alight with demonic power, he battled Prima, fought him to the brink of collapse and was poised to murder him as well when whatever shred of sense was left in him caused him to pause. Vector took the split-second opportunity to banish him far into the depths of space, where it is assumed that he perished. He is the patron of death and of killing; feared yet considered neutral rather than evil. His purview is battlefields; like Prima, he is a warrior god. He is seldom prayed to but for when one’s life is in great danger - to pray to Megatronus otherwise is to invite death and disaster. His symbol is ice, and his shade is said to bring the chill of death wherever it goes.

##  _\+ The First Children_

**Primon** — The First Child, kindled in a happy accident between Megatronus and Prima. Following Prima’s death, the Matrix was entrusted to him, thus making him the first of the Lineage of Primes. The foundations of Tyger Pax were laid early in his reign as part of the reconstruction and expansion following Megatronus’ Falling; he is revered there as the city’s official patron. He was assisted by Nexus and the Guiding Hand, and well-respected among the Dynasty at large, many of whom thought of him as not simply Prima’s child but part of Prima, as if the Sword lived on in him. However, he had his detractors, and among them was Liege Maximo. This division alarmed Primon, who attempted to reach out to Liege Maximo and his followers, but to no avail. Bloodshed broke out in spurts and spatters: Liege Maximo attempted to stage a coup in order to remove Primon and claim the Matrix for himself. Primon faced him and fought him for a full orn, a titanic effort. At the end, though he had beaten the Fallen Prime into submission, he was too injured to deal the killing blow, and so Liege Maximo escaped. Primon died of exhaustion exacerbated by his grievous wounds several orns later, passing the Matrix onto the Third Child, Basilea. Like his carrier Prima, he is one of the deities of Light, associated with stars and reflected sunlight. It is thought that he guides the spirits of those who meet a violent death to their rest in the Well of All Sparks, and grieving mecha will pray to him to keep their loved ones safe in the afterlife. ‘Until All Are One’ is a saying oft attributed to Primon.

 **Logos** — The Second Child, kindled by the Muse and the Guiding Hand. Became the Founder of the Sanctuary, the first temple to occupy the site of the Dawn Basilica in what is now Tyger Pax. He is said to have had some measure of precognition, not unlike the Record-Keeper, and contemporary historians suggest that this may have had something to do with his seeming mental instability. He became involved with both Primon and Basilea at an early age, and sired seven of Basilea’s children over the course of their partnership. He survived Liege Maximo’s coup by a whisker, being nursed back to health by Basilea, the new Genesis Prime, and Abyssus, her daughter with Aquila, a son of Liege Maximo. Abyssus famously seduced him away from her mother, kindling within him five children. He helped Abyssus to take control of Rhodian Prime after Genesis’ death, but eventually realised the brutality of the methods which she was using to keep the young Prime suborned, and eventually betrayed her to the Primacy’s forces in exchange for amnesty. After several vorns, legend tells that he had a vision of Cybertron under Abyssus’ control and became convinced that she was meant to become the next Prime - and returned to her side of the Cousins’ War. Not long afterwards, he appeared to change his mind once again. Consumed by guilt, he was eventually captured by Phoebus and begged the hero to execute him. He is venerated as a patron of priests and monks, and myth asserts that for his role in causing the Cousins’ War he endures penance under the care of his sire, the Guiding Hand. When a mech feels  _truly_  guilty, they often turn to Logos for solace. 

 **Basilea**  [ _Genesis Prime_ ]— The Third Child, daughter by budding of Amalgamous. A precocious and highly empathic being who embraced Prima’s philosophy of cadre, she took many, many lovers. Over the course of her life she kindled as many as fifty children, carrying most of them herself. She became Primon’s eventual successor as Prime following Liege Maximo’s coup - against the will of most of the remaining Thirteen. The Record-Keeper had prophesized that she would bring disaster unmatched by anything yet faced by the Dynasty, and indeed her Primacy led directly into the Cousins’ War which tore the burgeoning Cybertronian nation in half, yet while she still lived her rule was just and fruitful. Upon communing with the Matrix for the first time she took the name Genesis Prime; her rule oversaw the first great Cybertronian expansion into the hinterlands to the south of the Sea of Rust. While her military talent was considerable she remained a largely civilian leader, and formed a cult of personality centred around herself which was so strong that even the remaining members of the Thirteen did not dare move against her. Her spark began to gutter at a relatively young age, perhaps a consequence of kindling so many times. As she grew old she began to delegate much of her political duties to her daughter, Abyssus. She died of natural causes, and was succeeded as Prime by Rhodian, a young grandson of Prima. Her two names represent different sects of belief; as Basilea she is associated with fertility and care, and is said to watch over the Well of All Sparks, while as Genesis she is given the veneration of the Third of all Primes. Both personae are considered separate, and often will be referred to both in the same prayer. 


	7. Culture: the Imperial Calendar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The basic milestones of the Cybertronian vorn; events which the great majority of the population would recognise. Also includes the basic regular Rites and a few notes on the Cybertronian week.

 

 

> **\+ Large Units Of Time**

_→ Vorn.;_  one solar orbital cycle, Cybertronian year. (83 Terran years, 4 months)

_→ Lunar Cycle/’Lune’.;_  one complete orbit of Cybertron’s larger moon, Luna Phothoe. Cybertronian month. 14 lunae in a vorn. (5 Terran years, 11 months)

_→ Quartex.;_  one complete orbit of Cybertron’s smaller moon, Luna Sophia. 4 quartexes in a lune. (18 Terran months)

_→ Chord.;_  counter for orns. Cybertronian week, counted in pairs, 6 chords in a quartex. (98 Terran days)

_→ Orn.;_  one complete planetary rotation, day and night cycle. 14 orns in the complete set of chords. (13 Terran days, 20 hours)

_→ Joor.;_  one 52nd of an orn, basic measurement of time. Cybertronian hour. 52 joor an orn. (6 hours, 43 minutes)

 

> **\+ Notes on the Calendar**

Cybertron’s orbit around its star is severely elliptical. This has a much greater effect on the planet’s atmospheric temperature and climate than does axial tilt, resulting in a seasonal cycle of two long and severe winters separated by short summer periods of closer proximity to the sun.

Orns are counted in a cycle of two chords, known as the Major and Minor Chords. The Major Chord contains the 1st to 7th orns, and the Minor Chord the 8th to 14th orns. The span of 1st to 14th orn is for all intents and purposes the Cybertronian week.

The Mythos records the new orn as beginning for each time zone in turn at sunset, which occurs around the beginning of the midnight shift in most places on Cybertron save for the polar extremes. The orn is subdivided into six shifts and four ‘free’ joor, which are allocated according to global employment law as forming a seventh small ‘shift’ at the end of the day, between the evening and midnight shifts. One regular shift lasts for eight joor - or about as long as it takes a standard system to consume one ration of energon. The shifts are named according to their time of day: Midnight, Predawn, Dawn, Morning, Afternoon, and Evening respectively.

 

> **\+ The Standard Rites**

_— Pillars of Oath:_  Takes place during the midnight shift, although the exact time is not mandated and individual institutions can determine the times of their own services. Their purpose is to define and reaffirm the oaths of duty and belief undertaken by mecha within their lives. These Rites are generally private, held within one’s own home, but in some locales services are held in local Sanctuaries and temples, attended by the most devout. They are associated with the Oathkeeper, an aspect of Prima sometimes given the category of Stellate within the Eastern broadstreams; his worship includes the recitation of prayers of obeisance and the wearing of a symbolic tie around one’s neck and wrists. 

_— Fifth-Orn Rites:_  These begin at midday on the fifth orn, thus mandated by canon law. The Fifth-Orn Rites celebrate the three Stellate aspects of Solus Prime: the Starmaker, the Well of All Sparks, and the Smith. Historically they were inaugurated by the cult of Solus Prime, which spread throughout Cybertronian society to such an extent that it surpassed categorization as another broadstream and was instead absorbed into the broadstreams the world over. Worship is private, held within one’s own home, and focuses around the burning of written prayers in a vessel.

_— Eventides:_  Begun at sundown on the sixth and twelfth orns, mandated by canon law. These rites are intended to honour one’s ancestors and elders - the definition is which is rather broader in Cybertronian terms - and to pay respects to the aspects of Cybertronian history which are inseparable from religion. The Eventides are private rites and can be carried out within one’s own home, although many who lack the space for a private shrine will use neighbourhood streetside shrines instead. They can include sacrifice [the giving up of earthly possessions] and devotive gifts to be left at the shrine, but more often include simply the burning of mineral sticks and prayers spoken aloud.

_— Eighth-Orn Rites:_  Generally celebrated during the dawn shift on the eighth orn, although there is no exact time given and thus services may take place at any time during the morning. These rites are associated strongly with the sun, which in religious terms is an aspect of Primus and thus a rather important figure of worship. The Eighth-Orn Rites are observed in public, generally in local Sanctuaries although some cathedra run chordly services. The form of the worship is mandated by religious law as a public service, a quarter-joor long, including sacrifice, blessings, and sung prayer. Among the more religious castes, these Rites are widely considered a strong part of individuals’ social as well as spiritual lives. 

_— Chordal Rites:_  Held from the beginning of the dawn shift on the fourteenth orn. The Chordal Rite is an all-purpose worship, and is the only Standard Rite guaranteed to mecha, due to employment laws which mandate that all who choose to attend must be permitted to do so, down to the lowest beholden worker. The form of the Chordal Rite can vary from a public mass (generally in a cathedral rather than a Sanctuary) lasting two joor to a celebration lasting until midday, depending on the place. Forms of worship vary from place to place; in the less conservative locales there may be songs and chants, sweet energon shared, and ritual dances. Again they are an important part of the social scene; after leaving the cathedral, mecha may spend time with their friends and clade, get together for study of the Mythos or attendance of the local fairs, go back to work, or simply go home and rest. During the latter part of the afternoon shift, it is traditional to tend to one’s home altar and pray again in private.

 

> **\+ Major Dynastic Festivals**

_Those celebrations prescribed by the worship of the Dynasty of Primes as part of the Mythos in all six broadstreams, thus observed on a global scale. They are mandated by both religious and secular law, and considered one of the Five Pillars of the Imperial Pentarchate._

_— the Mysteries of Primon:_  A chord-long celebration of the life of the First of the lineage of Primes, Primon. The Mysteries contain many non-standard celebratory Rites and traditional observances, which vary greatly from sect to sect; the standard points of worship are Primon’s status as the First-born Child of the Dynasty and his Stellate character of the Matrix-Bearer. They last for a full chord, over which buildings and homes are decorated with paints and other crafts, and fireworks are sold and lit. Small dolls of Primon are sold by his temples, and mecha patroned in his name dedicate prayers and sacrifices at his temples. At sunset on the final orn, bells are rung to draw the celebration to a close.

_— Mysteries of Prima:_  The celebration of the life of Prima, First among the Thirteen. The Mysteries of Prima are the premiere religious observance of the vorn, lasting for the fifth and sixth chords of the second lune, and despite the rigors of winter they are held in public, in Sanctuaries and shrines and in the streets. The rituals and celebrations embarked upon vary greatly by state and region; in the Boreal and Torus States massive street festivals are held, while elsewhere the festivities are focused around public services given by cathedra and monasteries in Prima’s name. Dedicates of Prima embark upon exhaustive rites and rituals in honor of him: dances, orchestral productions, single and group combat to honour Prima’s aspect as a warrior. Newbuilds and sparklings are dressed in white, Prima’s colour. As with the Mysteries of Primon, the celebrations are brought to a close with the ringing of Sanctuary bells.

_— the Mysteries of the First World:_  The concept of the First World refers to an ascended state of being, in which a mech takes on aspects of Primus as they leave the Inferior World, or the world of the living. The onset period of the Mysteries is marked by the emergence of ascetic monks from their monasteries; when the orn proper begins the sunset is marked by the ceremonial ringing of bells, after which begins a sleepless night of ritual dance, meditative chant and the spooky semi-resurrection of the Sleepers, monks who spend the entire vorn in a sort of trance-like state of operation and only come fully to life on this one orn. During the night, mecha decorate themselves in black and white festival paint and wirecloth garments; as the sun rises, they cleanse themselves of all this and don instead bright colours, red, yellow, blue and others. The tolling of the Sanctuary bells again mark the end of the celebrations at sunset.

_— Mysteries of Logos:_  The lesser of the Mysteries, celebrating the life of Logos, Second Child of the Thirteen and the great seer. The Mysteries of Logos last for four orn, held later in the year during the first lune of the Deep Winter. Logos’ primary aspect as a penitent for his role in causing the Cousins’ War is preeminent within the celebration; the Mysteries of Logos are well-known as a time for confessions of ill-doing, and the chords afterward tend to be a busy time for those in the legal profession. The character of the holiday is somber, evoking the actions of penitence, until the final orn erupts in the celebration of justice carried out, during which there are street festivals and dramatic plays in which grim-faced protagonists gain justice for wrongs done to them by others. The final knell of the Sanctuary bells closes the celebrations at sunset.

 

> **\+ Vigils**

_A series of holiday seasons, in which special rites are carried out and mecha may be required to observe specific traditions within their daily business of living. All nine are mandated by law, though enforcement of the strictures around them varies greatly from place to place. They are old celebrations, common in some form to all six Broadstreams which suggests that they had their origin in the Dynasty of Primes, before the Cataclysm and the scattering of the Cybertronian proto-states._

_— Vigil of Innocents:_  A four-chord vigil leading up to the dies Rhodian and the accompanying Innocents’ Rites. The Vigil of Innocents is celebrates the leadership and guardianship by the Dynasty of the young and the weak, and it is marked by a series of local and global holidays along those lines. The primary Dynastic figures represented in the Rites of the Vigil are the Guardian Wall and Solus the Smith of the Thirteen, Rhodian Prime, Azimuth, Enceladus, and Persephone.

_— Solar Vigil:_  A six-chord vigil leading into the Dance of Descent. The Solar Vigil is one of the two main Vigils of the vorn, being the celebration of the genesis and continued life of the Dynasty and the Cybertronian civilizations that followed. It was historically a small event, but with the advent of the Empire it was lifted from obscurity, being a perfect impression of all that the Empire wished to celebrate. The entire Dynasty is represented in some form or another during the Vigil; almost every orn is dedicated to some figure or another. The primary figures however are Primus, the Thirteen, the first Five Primes (Primon through Enceladus), Lightningblade, Phoebus, Hyperion, Frostfire, Electra, and Eos.

_— Penitents’ Vigil:_  A two-chord vigil held shortly before the first of the Midsummer Solstices. The character of the Penitents’ Vigil is that of giving thanks for one’s fortunes and recognition of one’s place within the universe, and reflection on the wrong one has done in their life, the emphasis is upon making recompense for them. The primary figures of the Vigil are Solomus Prime, Strigate, Aquila and Armadere, and the Guiding Hand.

_— High Vigil:_  A five-chord vigil leading into the Dance of Consecration at the end of the first summer season. The High Vigil celebrates tradition and order, and is heavily associated with the aspect of Primus as the arbiter of all that is good and right in the universe. Many highly structured and formal rites and rituals take place during the vigil, their forms varying hugely across Cybertron. The primary figure of the Vigil is of course Primus, with Prima the Sword, the Guiding Hand, Amalgamous the Star of Chaos and Nexus the Sundered as supporting figures.

_— Glory Vigil:_  A four-chord vigil leading into the Dance of Towers. Like the High Vigil, the Glory Vigil focuses on the order of society and the good and great things that it creates – the Primacy, the Towers, the Empire and Primus, to name a few. The character of the Vigil is solemn and structured, paying respects to those things. The primary figures of the Vigil are Primus and the Thirteen; the Dynasty as a whole plays an important role.

_— Remembrance Vigil:_  A two-chord vigil leading into the Dance of Incarnation, in late winter. The Remembrance Vigil is in most places an expression of grief, of remembrance of all that came to an end over the past vorn, from the lives of friends and family to the phases of one’s life and opportunities lost. The primary figures of the Vigil are the Guiding Hand, the Guardian Wall, the Record-Keeper and Vector the Timekeeper of the Thirteen.

_— Landing Vigil:_  A two-chord vigil held over the second midsummer, leading into the Dance of Exaltation. The Landing Vigil is a very old celebration, dating from before the Cataclysm; the legend goes that it refers to the arrival of Primus to Cybertron in preparation for his creation of the Thirteen. The character of the Vigil, as giving thanks for the provision of a safe place, of home and shelter from the elements, seems to lend credence to this. The primary figures of the Vigil are Primus, Prima the Sword, Megatronus the Shield, the Guardian Wall and the Muse of the Thirteen.

_— the Ascension of Prima:_  A six-chord vigil leading into the Dance of Farewell. The Ascension of Prima celebrates his uplifting into the First World; it is related to the Mysteries of the First World and shares much of its character. Prima is of course the primary figure, with Primon, Megatronus the Shield, Solus the Smith, Core, and Persephone.

 

> **\+ Imperial Orns of Observation**

_Other celebrations not necessarily religious in nature, although most are accorded some religious significance._

_— New Vorn:_  Celebrated during the first chordal cycle of the year, including dies Enceladus on the fourth Orn. The New Vorn is basically what it says on the can – a celebration of the beginning of a new vorn. Occurring as it does in the middle of winter, it is a largely private celebration, during which time clades come together as one and families are reunited. The New Vorn rituals include the weaving of a wirecloth flag, representing the unity of the home and family, which is then hung above the door of the home and remains there until the next New Vorn celebration. Energon is consumed in great amounts, and gifts are given to one’s extended family and the elders of one’s clade.

_— Anointing:_  A major part of the Cybertronian New Vorn celebrations, held during the first and second orns of the third chord of the year. During Anointing, sparklings and new mecha are adopted into the Mythos, and many institutions hold ceremonies to welcome new members they may have gathered over the past vorn into their ranks. The celebration of Anointing is public, held in Sanctuaries and within temple grounds. Bright colours and rich decorations are a large part of the celebrations; private homes are strung up with flags and braided wire, while businesses and public buildings are often covered with neon signage and large temporary murals. Anointing is also the standard marker of age; a mech sparked that winter in the previous vorn would consider themself to be one vorn old on Anointing.

_— Vernal Passing:_  The twice-ornly celebration of spring, known in some places as the Orns of Return. Although the fourth and eleventh lunae  are considered the ‘spring seasons’, the Vernal Passing occurs at the point where the Sun difference between winter and spring becomes noticeable. The Vernal Passing is celebrated with gatherings at one’s local Sanctuary and the devotion of sacrifices to Primus, whose secondary aspect the sun is. Energon is often consumed in great amount, and newbuilds and young sparklings are given gifts, the practice supposedly bringing luck to both recipient and giver.

_— Cataclysm:_  The commemoration of the great destructive events which marked the end of the Dynasty of Primes and triggered the migrations of the First Generation into the Southern and Tagan  _rus_. Cataclysm takes on an almost hysteric quality in places; the rites include a form of ritualistic combat known as the manaxa, which grew out of training-yard brawls during the First Generation and became a distinct style of armed combat ruled by highly controlled movements and brutal killing strikes. The Doomsday quality of the festival makes it an exciting, and sometimes frightening event; many Cybertronians who are otherwise non-religious believe deeply in the Cataclysm, and take an odd sort of pride in the idea that their species survived where others might have fallen into extinction.

_— Founding:_  The commemoration of the founding of the Cybertronian Empire by Kathismon Prime and his High Council at the beginning of the Golden Age. Founding is the largest and most lavish of the public festivals, with a two-orn mandated public holiday for all free-contracted mecha, massive fairs, parades of high-ranking and well-known Cybertronian dignitaries, a public appearance by the Prime and the High Council, and displays of Cybertronian arts, craft, and performance paid for by the Imperial Government for all citizens to enjoy. 

_— Midsummer Solstice:_  Celebrated twice a vorn, during the final chord of the fourth and eleventh lunae. The purpose of the celebration is fairly self-explanatory - it marks the halfway point of summer, at which the sun has reached its closest point and begins to retreat from Cybertron once more. The celebrations take on a wistful quality: during the solstice, the good days of the spring and summer are celebrated, and the sun, an aspect of Primus, is farewelled. In most places throughout Cybertron, Sanctuaries and personal dwellings are decorated with flags of white, gold and bronze.

_— Aphelion:_  The later and deeper of the Cybertronian midwinters, celebrated over the twelfth and thirteenth chords of the eighth lune. Aphelion marks the point at which Cybertron is furthest from its sun; due to the harsh conditions, it is primarily celebrated within the home. Mecha give gifts to their closest family and friends, create devotive effigies which will be placed at the entrance to the home and burned at sunset, and pray in private for the quick return of the sun and its warmth.

_— Intercalation:_  Three to four orns not included as part of the ordinary Cybertronian year, observed in order to keep the calendar year in synch with Cybertron’s orbital cycle. This is a spooky celebration, Intercalation being considered something of a limbo time in which the normal laws of Primus did not apply; ghosts of the dead come back from the Well, those within the Pits emerge to prey upon the living, and the boundaries between Worlds become brittle and powerless. Families dress their young and weak members up as ghouls in order to conceal them from evil, and fires are lit, lamps placed at every doorway. 

 

> **\+ Dances**

_A system of public rituals adopted into the Imperial liturgical year from Pax Enigma; imposed by religious law on all Cybertronian religious observance. The Dances as a group are very communal, including detailed rituals built of music, song and dance, public blessings and flagellation, street performance and the telling of myths and legends. They tend to be paired with the Vigils, a wholly Oriens concept._

_— the Prime’s Dance:_  The commemoration of the lineage of Primes as a whole, held as the Innocents’ Vigil draws to a close. In the days of the Primes’ residency in Tyger Pax, the Primal Court would descend into the city to mingle with those of lower caste, to fuel and dance together before the culmination of the festival in the choosing by lottery of a ceremonial companion to spend the following night with the Prime in the ancient prayer rooms of the Dawn Basilica, When the Primes moved to Iacon, the tradition continued in a much restricted form, the companions being limited first to the three highest castes, and then to the gentility and the nobility. Those among the Lineage of Primes that are particularly well-known often bear major pilgrimages to their tombs, and street storytellers and dramatic troupes will perform the best-known legends and plays to large crowds. 

_— the Dance of Consecration:_  The third in the system of Dances, held after the High Vigil in late summer. This Dance celebrates the laying of the foundations of the Dawn Basilica, the one building on the planet which shares religious significance to all six broadstreams. Dedicates descend upon the current Basilica in Tyger Pax, the ninth structure to occupy the site, in order to worship at the altar and in the Hall of Shrines and Tombs. Outside of Tyger Pax, the Dance is celebrated with the creation of small model basilicas, which are carried around the streets all day and gather written prayers and sacrifices from those who wish luck for themselves over the next vorn, and at sunset are covered with fuel and set alight. 

_— the Dance of Descent:_  The commemoration of ancestors and the passing down of knowledge to those who live in the present day. It follows the Solar Vigil, the celebration of life. Unlike the Intercalation and Mysteries of the First World, this is a celebration of joyful communion with those of the Worlds above the mortal Cybertron; it is believed that those sparks which return to the Inferior world on this day do so to greet and guide their loved ones rather than cause mischief and grief. It is a day of miracles rather than fear. The Dance of Descent is celebrated with private ceremonies wherein individuals and cadres pay their respects to those who went before them, and public festivals, often disorganised and spontaneous. Mecha dress themselves brightly and spend up big (the Dance of Descent is also known as one of the big orns for gambling), and climb up high to watch the sun go down over the horizon at the end of the orn.

_— the Dance of Towers:_  The commemoration of the building of the first Towers within the walls of the First City during the rule of Genesis Prime. The dance of Towers is – unsurprisingly – of particular importance to those within the first tier of rank, the modern-day descendants of those early Towers dwellers. Clans compete to put on vast and expensive displays of fireworks, art and military might, each striving to impress their neighbours and rivals with their wealth and class; these displays are often well-attended by the less well-off. Among the lower castes, the Dance of Towers is paired with the Glory Vigil, and celebrates the organisation of society – in the Golden Age, this means the caste system. It was one of the first, and only, religious celebrations banned by the Decepticons during their rule over the Southern Hemisphere in the Dusk Ages.

_— the Dance of Incarnation:_  The celebration of the embodiment of the Thirteen and their great battle against Unicron. Held immediately following the end of the Remembrance Vigil, the Dance of Incarnation is one of the three highest-ranked celebrations of the Imperial Calendar. It takes place over three orns, during which all free-contracted mecha are legally accorded a holiday. The shrines of the Thirteen, individually and together, hold festivals and exhibitions of arts and performance; Primus’ monasteries open to the public, and secular organisations compete to put on the biggest and most spectacular displays of fireworks where the most people can see. Incarnation has a very communal character, lacking the focus on personal aspects such as family and friends in favour of emphasising a shared identity as members of the Cybertronian society. It ends with simultaneous services at all local shrines and Sanctuaries, at which Primus and the Thirteen are honoured with sacrifices and communal blessings.

_— the Dance of Exaltation:_  The celebration of the incarnations of Primus, held in spring immediately following the Landing Vigil. The Dance of Exaltation lasts for the full seventeenth chord of the second spring lune. During the night of the first orn, the monasteries of Primus open to the public and choose from the attendees a mech to stand as the local representative of Primus in the ceremonies held throughout the chord. Legend goes that in times past these representatives of Primus were sacrificed to the god at the end of the Dance, but in modern times they are ritually cleansed in a bath of energon and  released to carry on their lives as normal. The character of the Dance is very formal and ritualised, and active in both private and public. Most mecha make devotions at shrines of Primus at each sunset over the festival period, either public shrines or within their own home. 

_— the Dance of Farewell:_  The commemoration of the vorn nearly over, a celebration of endings and duties carried out. The Dance of Farewell’s primary purpose is to mark the time of the Thirteen’s destruction between the rampage of Megatronus and Liege Maximo’s coup, held after the Ascension of Prima which marked his uplifting into the First World. The character of the Dance is relaxed; the three-orn stretch over which it is held punctuated with short public ceremonies and rituals, simple dances and songs sung to the beat of the large shrine drums. In places, effigies are made and burned, and sacrifices made at the shrines of one’s patrons for luck in the following vorn. 

 

> **\+ Dedicated Orns**

_Single-orn holidays dedicated to major figures of the Dynasty. There are more than one hundred Dedicated Orns; however only 16 are legally enforced within the Imperial Calendar. Each Dedicated orn is prefixed by the word ‘dies’, an archaic word for the daytime joors; as such, they last from sunrise to sundown. They’re generally observed with public festivals and the wearing and consumption of the metals and minerals associated with each Dynastic figure._

_— dies Enceladus:_  Celebrated during the New Vorn, on the 4th orn of the first chord of the vorn, dies Enceladus marks the life of Enceladus, a warrior of note and the fifth in the lineage of Primes, who took the name Enceladion Prime upon his Ascension. The celebration of dies Enceladus is particularly strong among the northern Rust Sea States, from Nova Cronum down to Meridia, and among the military castes, who consider Enceladus to be one of their primary patrons. Devotives are given to his shrines in silver and electrum, and passages from the Book of War are given to loved ones to guard them from evil.

_— dies Rhodian:_  Dedicated to Rhodian, third of the lineage of Primes and grandson of Solus and Prima. The dies Rhodian occurs on the same orn as the Innocents’ Rites; Rhodian’s aspect as a guardian of innocence and peace is instrumental to the Rites. The character of the celebration has changed deeply over the course of the Golden Age, Rhodian’s second aspect as a seeker of justice having been largely relegated to specialised rites; the modern celebration is calm and ritualistic in character, with organised dance and music playing a major part. Newbuilds and sparklings are elevated - and often spoiled rotten - on Rhodian’s day.

_— dies Solus:_  Dedicated to the life and creations of Solus, the Smith, best-loved of the Thirteen. The dies Solus occurs on the fourth orn of the twelfth chord in the third lune, and celebrates her aspect as a creator and engineer of great works first and foremost; the aspects of her perhaps more palatable to her cult being left to the specialised services run by the devotees of her Stellate personae. Her shrines are decorated with yellow, black and white, in paint and prayer flags, and host bands of drummers and players of flutes to play along with the chants that are sung from dawn until dusk.

_— dies Gladius:_  A celebration of the first and greatest of the Thirteen, the Sword, Prima. The dies Gladius occurs on the sixth orn of the seventh chord of the fourth lune, on the day purported to mark Prima’s passing from the Inferior World. It celebrates the Sword, his primary Stellate aspect, which is sometimes recognised as a concept separate from Prima: it refers to his fighting for the sake of Primus against Unicron and the other evils which befell the Dynasty under his protection. Prima’s colour is white, and many of his devotees wear white alone on his day. Those in the military castes celebrate his life with ritual dances and combat, often spontaneous and public. Newbuilds and sparklings traditionally give their mentors gifts of energon on this day.

_— dies Aegis:_  Dedicated to the Shield, an aspect of Megatronus of the Thirteen which has become largely detached from his primary identity as an avenger and spectre of wrath. The dies Aegis is celebrated on the seventh orn of the seventh chord of the fourth lune, the orn after the dies Gladius, as befits the two who were inseparable complements of one another while they lived. The Shield is an entity of protection and guardianship, and of singleminded determination in the pursuit of those ideals; his day therefore is widely celebrated in an era in which many mecha lack the strength themselves to protect and guard what is precious to them. Traditionally, worshippers sacrifice weapons and their own energon to him; it is believed that this mimicks the blood promises made by the warriors under his command to the ones they guarded, and accords those who made the sacrifice a measure of his protection. His colour is black, his sign iron, and many give gifts of these to those whom they most want to protect on his day.

_— dies Imperium:_  A celebration of the life of the Guiding Hand, ninth of the Thirteen and one of the most influential members of the early Dynasty.  The dies Imperium is celebrated on the eighth orn of the  tenth chord of the ninth lune, not long after the Dance of Incarnation. The Guiding Hand is revered as the impositor of the system which Cybertronian government follows to this day – the leadership of a Prime and his High Council, under which a Senate composed of representatives from all of Cybertron’s states and polities makes decisions on behalf of the Empire. The celebration of dies Imperium is thus of particular note in Iacon, where a massive parade marches through the streets to the Senate Chambers as the sun rises. On a personal level, dies Imperium is also celebrated as a day of forgiveness and reconciliation between opposing parties; feuds between clades are often settled only with the help of this day.

_— dies Genesis:_  A celebration of the second of the lineage of Primes, Basilea, the budded daughter of Amalgamous, who took the name Genesis upon her Ascension to the Primacy. Her day is celebrated on the tenth orn of the fifth chord of the thirteenth lune. It pays respect to both of her Stellate aspects, as Genesis the Second of the Lineage, and as Basilea the Mother of a Nation, and recreates her victory in single combat against the representative of the Thirteen, winning the right to take up the Matrix despite the prophecy that she would bring ruin to the Dynasty. The dies Genesis tends to be a lively celebration, with group dances, song and chants, and music in the streets. Copper and iron are her signs, and gifts smelted from those metals are popularly exchanged between lovers under the setting sun.

 

> **\+ Notes**

**►**  To be ‘patroned’ to a Dynastic figure is to have had oneself dedicated in their name. As a practice it is far more common among cold-constructed mecha, whose creators (those who paid to have them sparked) will often dedicate them to a particular figure in the hopes of gaining their favour. Megatron, for example, was one of a batch of cold-constructs patroned to Rhodian in his aspect as the guardian of the innocent; he made better use of Rhodian’s other aspect, as the one who fought to throw off the yokes of tyranny, in the founding of the Decepticon cause.

**►**  Kathismon Prime’s name comes from the Greek word ‘[kathisma](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathisma)’, which according to my dictionary means something like ‘to be seated’. I’ve borrowed that meaning to refer to the adoption of Iacon as the seat of power of the Cybertronian Empire, of which Kathismon is revered as the founder.


	8. The Mythos: The Greater Heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for general nastiness, mention of rape and torture and violent death. The Dynasty were generally not nice people.

**Abyssus** — The fourth child of Basilea, kindled just before she took the Primacy as Genesis Prime. Genesis’ ascension was marred by the controversy surrounding the Record-Keeper’s last prophecy, which asserted that she would bring destruction to the Dynasty the likes of which none had ever seen before; unbeknownst to anybody at the time, the prophecy referred to Genesis’ unborn child. Abyssus’ first act of note was her care for Logos during his long recovery from injury at Liege Maximo’s hands. Despite his love for her mother he allowed himself to be seduced by Abyssus as Genesis’ attention wandered. Abyssus kindled within him three children, but soon tired of his fanatic devotion to her, and sought a new source of power. When her mother died and passed the Matrix on to the not-quite adult Rhodian, son of Eos, Abyssus made herself the young Prime’s regent. In order to keep Rhodian subordinate to her, she forced him to bond with her and raped him repeatedly. The first child resulting from this toxic union was Strigate, who inherited her Shifter frametype; it is through him that all mecha with the ability today trace their descent. Rhodian eventually escaped her influence, and the resulting coup saw her imprisoned for approaching one thousand vorn. Upon being released by Logos and his followers, she took control of the opposition faction within the Council and began the Cousins’ War. Late in the war she bargained with an envoy from Liege Maximo, Pyroxene, and kindled with her a daughter, whom she named Mortilus. However, carrying and birthing a child tainted with the Fallen’s energies left its mark, and her fearsome personality soon became demonic. Together with Mortilus, she extinguished Solomus Prime. Solomus’ successor, Enceladion Prime, challenged and defeated her at last, using the energies of the Matrix to strip the taint of the Fallen from her shell and executing her there on the battlefield in concord with the final lines of the Record-Keeper’s prophecy. Abyssus is remembered as an evil on the level of Liege Maximo, a shade with which to threaten disobedient children:  _"If you don’t behave yourself, Abyssus will come to you in the night."_  

 **Alabaster** — A figure of honour and devotion, revered for his great love for his bondmate. One of the first generation born to the Dynasty, Alabaster was carried by the Wanderer and sired by Prima, from whom he inherited his shining white armour. Raised alongside Primon, he became a warrior of great note, forging the first Great Sword and making his name in single combat against the Predacon Drachenfels. He kindled once with Core, the daughter of Megatronus, creating Persephone. He became the sparkling’s sole parent following Core’s retreat from the Dynasty and legend speaks much of their great love and loyalty toward each other. He was badly injured during Megatronus’ rampage and retreated to the Sanctuary to recuperate. There, he met Orion, a much younger mech of celebrated beauty. According to legend, his courteous and respectful manner attracted Orion, who set about seducing him with much enthusiasm. Alabaster quickly fell in love with him, and within a mere handful of vorn they had kindled together. In the final few chords of Orion’s carrying cycle, Liege Maximo’s forces attacked the Sanctuary, and though Alabaster protected his mate with all of his strength and skill as a warrior, he succumbed to his wounds just as he cut down the last of their attackers. Alabaster is venerated as part of Basilea’s sect, as the guardian of lovers. In modern times he is a byword for courage, sacrifice and devotion in the name of love.

 **Aquila and Armadere** — Split-spark twins belonging to the First Generation, born from the union of Prima and Liege Maximo. Flightframes and accomplished warriors, they were initially suspected to have assisted with their sire’s coup and were tried for high treason, but the evidence against them was exceedingly weak and so they were released. Afterwards, they were treated with much disdain and wariness, and though the new Prime Genesis, Aquila’s lover, protested, they sent themselves into self-imposed exile among the Predacons. Many vorn later, Rhodian recalled them at the beginning of the Cousins’ War. Both twins fell into Abyssus’ clutches early on, and spent a long time as her prisoners. Their jailer was a mech called Brontide, the son of Orion and Alabaster. Despite their situations they soon came to respect and care for each other, and in the end when they were rescued, Brontide went with them. Though they neither bonded nor kindled, it was considered common knowledge among the Dynasty that the trio were lovers. However, near the height of the war, Aquila was killed in battle against Mortilus. Driven mad by grief and on the verge of succumbing to his own broken spark, Armadere made a suicidal foray into Abyssus’ camp, killing many of her supporters before succumbing to his own wounds. They lend their names to the binary star system bright in Cybertron’s northern skies.

 **Brontide** — The child of Orion, sired by Alabaster. Brontide grew up with Abyssus and became very close to each other, both sharing the experience of being raised without their sires. Renowned for his cool logic, Brontide became a warrior with skill to match Abyssus’ - though where she utilised sheer force of will and ferocity to overcome her opponents, he used his intelligence and practical problem-solving ability. They were close friends even after Abyssus’ trial, and throughout her imprisonment he remained loyal to her. At Logos’ request he led the insurrection which freed her and began the Cousins’ War. Afterwards, he oversaw the imprisonment of Aquila and Armadere, but he was fascinated by the twins and eventually fell in love with them, masterminding their escape from Abyssus’ clutches. His defection came soon after Eos' death at the Reverie Pits, and was a much-needed morale boost to the flagging loyalist faction. He survived until near the end of the war, murdered as he recharged by the assassin Elide. He tends to be a polarizing figure in the Mythos, with his detractors fiercely decrying his stalwart defense of the convicted rapist Abyssus and his eventual defection, while other historians praise his tactical skill and freeing of the Twins whom he loved.  

 **Cryptide** — The first child of Logos and Basilea, Abyssus’ eldest half-brother. A figure about whom little is known despite his status as one of Cybertron’s most celebrated heroes, Cryptide did not live for very long. He earned a reputation in life as an ascetic, eschewing comfort and the riches the son of a Prime could claim in favour of a life spent wandering in the wilderness. He was well-acquainted with the Guardian Wall and could count himself one of the few whom had travelled with her. His skill as a warrior is without doubt despite how rarely he exercised it - during Liege Maximo’s coup, he fought the Fallen Prime himself to a standstill outside the Primal Tower before being felled by Maximo’s allies. It is said that his spark detonated rather than dispersed, and the legend has clung on throughout history. He is the hero of several ancient ghost stories, and the floating lights produced by drifts of heavy gas in low-lying areas are often known by the colloquial name ‘Cryptide’s lamps’.

 **Enceladus**   **[** _Enceladion Prime_ **]** — A cold-constructed mech, one of the seventh generation of designs from Electra’s line. He was created for the household of Eos, and became one of her most trusted commanders during the border wars against the Predacons. As a cold-construct, he was bound by contract to her, but Eos found the requirement distasteful and allowed him a measure of personal freedom that was highly unusual among the Dynasty at the time. He was given the opportunity to rise to the rank of General, a distinction previously saved for descendants of the Thirteen. He took part in the Cousins’ War, and became a decorated hero for his ingenious defense of Rhodian’s Keep and later his recruitment of the Minicons. He is said to have been the first to create a keynote-array, between himself and the ruling Minicon cadre, to solidify this allegiance. He became a close advisor to the young Solomus Prime, and during this time reached legendary status by retrieving several powerful artifacts from the no-longer-abandoned Haunt of Pyroxene, guided by the shade of his former master Eos. Upon Solomus’ death in battle he took the Matrix, intending to safeguard it until the next Prime could be divined - however, to his consternation it accepted him right there on the battlefield. It took him nearly a full orn to integrate it thanks to damage from Solomus’ death, during which time he was guarded by a succession of heroes from Lightningblade and the Wanderer to Hyperion, along with his devoted symbionts. He used the Matrix’ power to defeat Abyssus, but the strain of doing so permanently injured him, and for the rest of his short reign as Prime he remained for the most part inside his quarters. His reign was instrumental in removing the legal restrictions against cold-constructed mecha, and he is remembered forever as the mech who saved the Dynasty from the threat of Abyssus, thus finally fulfilling the Record-Keeper’s last prophecy and ending the Cousins’ War. Warframes and soldiers often pray to him to walk with them in battle and keep their comrades safe. 

 **Eos** — The daughter of Prima and Solus, and carrier of Rhodian Prime. Born mere orns before Solus’ murder, she grew into a mech renowned for her beauty and grace. Nexus the Sundered did much of the work of raising her after the deaths of both her sire and carrier, with assistance from her half-sibling Primon. Though her physical attributes are her most-celebrated feature, she became in adulthood an artist and architect of great skill and renown. She never bonded, though she must have taken lovers as she became pregnant with her son Rhodian, at quite a young age. News of her nephew Rhodian’s abuse at the hands of Abyssus induced her to rejoin the political wrangling among the Dynasty at large. After Rhodian’s flight from the Primal Towers, she spearheaded the coup which imprisoned Abyssus and stood guard over the Prime and his children. She was killed in the attack on the Reverie Pits, though she was resurrected for a short while and led the hero Enceladus to Pyroxene’s Haunt. Her last mention in the annals of the Dynasty, somewhat chronologically confusing, is her care of her son after his torture at Abyssus’ hands late in the War. She is a minor deity of light associated with the dawn, and is one of the Dynasts invoked in the full ancient form of the bonding ceremony common to the Northern Hemisphere.

 **Frostfire and Electra** — The first two cold-constructed mecha to be brought to life in all of history. Frostfire, a warframe, and Electra, a flightframe, proved the viability of the cold-construction method beyond all doubt. Solus and Nexus, their creators, kept their existence a secret for a long time, hoping to give them time enough to adjust to life before subjecting them to the scrutiny of the Dynasty. After being presented to the Dynasty, Frostfire was adopted by Prima, while Electra remained with Solus to study engineering. They remained close friends and kindled two daughters together, though their family was mistrusted by many of the Dynasty for a long time. Both lost their primary supporters in Megatronus’ rampage; they joined Nexus’ household, hoping to find help in him, but were soon forced to sign their freedom over to him when the cold-construction laws were passed by a government afraid of their potential. Frostfire died a hero’s death during the Cousins’ War, defending the Prime himself, but Electra survived to see the repealing of the cold-construct laws during Enceladion Prime’s reign. Their descendants began a ruling Towers line which has come to dominance over much of the city-states of Meridia and Central City.

 **Lightningblade** — The son of Pyroxene, kindled in her rape of Olivine. Pyroxene abandoned him soon after giving birth, and when his sire, Olivine, refused to take him in, the Primacy placed him in the care of Persephone to be raised to adulthood. Made strange and powerful by Pyroxene’s taint, Lightningblade earned a reputation for savagery in battle even as a child; by the time he achieved his majority, few warriors could stand against him for long. Persephone however doted upon him, and he grew up with a strong sense of loyalty towards her and her young family. He was declared adult later than most; the Dynasty was wary of granting him his full rights for fear of a repeat of Pyroxene’s manipulations. Eventually, Rhodian Prime intervened, forcing the Council to declare him adult. The Prime often made time to speak to Lightningblade, and upon seeing how much he resented his taint despite the power it gave him, Rhodian offered him a cleansing spark merge. Lightningblade accepted, and during the merge they unintentionally kindled simulcast twins, carrying one each. He raised Hoarfrost and Rime himself, with help from many members of his and Rhodian’s families. Although the cleansing of his taint stripped him of much of his power, he worked patiently to regain it, and by the time his children were grown up he was again one of the most skilled warriors of the Dynasty. He took Rhodian’s side in the Cousins’ War, earning the title of general and gaining the respect he’d always looked for. He became one of many mecha who guarded Enceladus from harm while he underwent Ascension on the battlefield, fighting his half-sister Mortilus for close to a full orn before he finally gained the upper hand and slew her. He passes out of the record books soon afterwards, dying in the company of his remaining family. The former royal line of Kaon claimed descent from him; Kaon’s greatest churches and cathedra are dedicated to he and his children. He is associated with storms; lightning is said to be the tip of his sword striking the ground in temper.

 **Mortilus** — One of the most feared individuals among the Dynasty, considered something of a demonic entity. Kindled from the union of Abyssus and Pyroxene, Mortilus was Lightningblade’s younger half-sister. Abyssus raised her to become her faction’s greatest weapon, a terrifying warrior who felt no pain and no empathy for any living being, not even her own parents. Mortilus was responsible for the deaths of many of the most celebrated defenders of the Primacy, among them Aquila, Solomus Prime, and the Wanderer herself, one of the original Thirteen. Unlike her carrier Abyssus, who played subtle games and tricks in order to extend her advantage, Mortilus’ assault was straightforward and near unstoppable. Her reign of terror lasted almost the whole of the Cousins’ War, but her reputation was solidified most by her death. She led the attack which destroyed the First City, striking down Solomus and decapitating him while her carrier watched on. She was beaten back by a last desperate blow from Enceladus, who recovered the Matrix from Solomus’ corpse; unexpectedly it chose him as the next Prime there and then. Mortilus and Abyssus advanced to kill him before he could gain the power of the Primes, but were stopped by a succession of the last heroes of the War. Mortilus was engaged by the Wanderer, who fought with courage unmatched, but was unable to overcome the taint of the Fallen in her wounds. As the Wanderer fell, Lightningblade stepped up; he fought her for close to an orn, neither gaining the upper hand. At the end, she disabled his right arm and swooped in for the kill, underestimating his resistance to the taint. He could not avoid being impaled by her blade, but willingly paid that price in order to breach her spark and detonate it. Mortilus is the personification of death and decay; her touch is said to cause every death but that of old age.   

 **Olivine** — Child of Genera Pacis, grandchild of the Guardian Wall. A gentle giant much like his carrier and grandcarrier, though unlike them, Olivine enjoyed the company of other mecha and was accorded great honours by many of the greatest of the Dynasty. He was still relatively young when Pyroxene entered the Court of the Primes, and like many of his contemporaries he was taken in by her tale of woe. Pyroxene took advantage of his kindnesses and raped him, kindling and carrying a sparkling as a result. Humiliated and hurt, Olivine did not speak up when she asserted that he had willingly sired her child, and it was not until she gave birth to Lightningblade and abandoned the sparkling with Persephone that he admitted what had happened. He seldom interacted with Lightningblade, leaving the child’s care to Persephone. During Rhodian’s early rule he became close to the young Prime, enough so that Abyssus tried to send him away and out of contact on multiple occasions. He was the first to discover Rhodian’s escape from the Tower, and made a leap of faith in taking Rhodian’s children from their suite and hiding them in his own quarters, away from Abyssus. In doing so, he probably saved their lives. After Abyssus’ trial, he became Rhodian’s housekeeper, and the two found a great deal of commonality in both their temperaments and experiences. He was killed in the scuffle which resulted in Rhodian’s kidnapping, and it is said that it was his loss rather than the torture visited upon Rhodian was the catalyst to which the Prime lost his strength and died. Like Rhodian, Olivine is a figure of strength in adversity, and enjoys great popularity in the modern Mythos. He lends his name to a large constellation close to the Wanderer’s Star, visible from most places planet-wide.

 **Orion** — One of the Seventh Generation, descended from Basilea and Aquila. Orion was a warframe who had tried being a warrior and found it not to his liking. He instead entered the Sanctuary and devoted his life to the spiritual, caring for mecha who wanted it and looking after the shrines which Logos the Founder had neglected. His compassion and empathy was great, and he was well-liked by most of his contemporaries. Despite having planned to remain alone his whole life, he was assigned to oversee Alabaster’s recovery after Megatronus’ rampage, and quickly fell in love with the White Knight’s charm and respect. After much deliberation he set about seducing him with all his characteristic confidence and good humour, and soon discovered that Alabaster returned his affections. They kindled together, but Alabaster was killed soon afterwards. He raised their son, whom he named Brontide, on his own, with assistance from Alabaster’s daughter Persephone, and from the new Prime, Genesis, who was herself raising her daughter alone. He refused to take sides in the Cousins’ War until the original Sanctuary was destroyed and its inhabitants captured by the dissidents, at which point he took up the sword once more for the Primes. He is closely associated with Persephone as a psychopomp, the guardian of lovers’ sparks until they meet again in the Well; like Eos, he is one of the figures invoked in the traditional bonding ceremony.

 **Persephone** — The elder child of Alabaster, born of his dalliances with Core, daughter of Prima and Megatronus. Core gave the newborn Persephone into Alabaster’s care and retreated from the world; Persephone grew up with next to no contact with her carrier. She and Alabaster grew very close, fortunately, and from a very young age Persephone took over the duties of his squires. Though Alabaster had hoped she would become a warrior, she was never interested in combat; her interests lay squarely in the field of caring for the mecha around her. She was still a child when Megatronus Fell; sent into the wastes to wait out the fighting, she stumbled across the dying Prima, and did what she could to make him comfortable while his spark guttered and he succumbed to his grievous wounds. Honoured for her care of him, she was taken in by Nexus while her sire recuperated from his own wounds. Nexus taught her what he knew of Cybertronian anatomy and coding, and when his knowledge ran dry watched over her while she figured out medicine on her own. Her skill quickly became well-known, and she found herself in great demand. During Liege Maximo’s coup, she saved the lives of many great warriors, but was unable to save her own beloved sire. Afterwards she spent much of her time with Orion and her new half-brother Brontide, studying in the peace and quiet of the Sanctuary. Her medical skill was undoubtedly high, but the memoirs of her contemporaries even credit her with the ability to resurrect the dead. Her greatest achievement is the destruction of Pyroxene, the single event which turned the tide of the Cousins’ War once and for all. She sacrificed her own life to end Pyroxene’s, merging with her and detonating their sparks in an explosion which destroyed much of the Haunt and obliterated both their frames. She is one of the best-known of the Dynasty, believed to guard the dead and dying and to watch over the sparks of the dead in their return to the Well of All Sparks. She is also associated with the return of Cybertron to the inner system over the course of the vorn, and the passing of its seasons. Most modern hospitals have a shrine near their main entrances dedicated to Persephone.

 **Phoebus** — Something of a mystery, a kindled member of the Dynasty who claimed to descend from the Guiding Hand although his parentage is a mystery. Cruel rumours painted him as being half-Predacon, though there is no evidence that this was true. He was a warrior of considerable note, wielding a poleaxe and a fearsome temper in battle. He fought and won several duels in his time at the Court of the Primes, and was knighted by Rhodian for his services in guarding the nation’s borders. Though he gained much praise, he had a tendency to disrupt plans wherever he went, and so he was not a popular individual with the governing council. He fought with Abyssus a great deal, and joined forces with her enemies in the Prime's camp out of pure spite. When Abyssus was convicted of Rhodian’s rape and betrayal, he was made her jailer; her rescue at the hands of Logos and Brontide humiliated him like nothing else. Despite this, he was made one of the loyalists’ generals, and led their armies to several great victories. His death is never recorded; he likely survived the Cousins’ War and returned to the borders afterwards. He was known while he lived as a skilled and passionate lover, but though he kindled many children, he never bonded with anyone. Like Enceladus and Alabaster, he is often called on to protect those going into battle.

 **Pyroxene** — Claimed to be the daughter by budding of Liege Maximo on her first appearance within the Court of the Primes. Like him, she was ambitious, capricious, and vicious. She claimed to seek asylum from her sire’s madness, and was welcomed into Persephone’s household. She pursued Olivine’s affections and kindled a child which she claimed he had willingly sired, but after giving birth, abandoned the child and absconded. Persephone named the sparkling Lightningblade and raised him, while Pyroxene returned to Liege Maximo. It is not known what occurred between the two, but the three Pillars of the Pits claimed to be Pyroxene’s daughters. She returned during the unrest at the beginning of the Cousins’ War, courting Abyssus’ favour and kindling Mortilus with her. She acted as a free agent throughout the war, nominally as part of the dissident faction but commanded by none save her own whim. The taint of the fallen which spread to both Abyssus and Mortilus was strongest within Pyroxene, and while it made her fearsome and powerful, it caused her great pain. She was injured near-fatally at the Reverie Pits and rebuilt by the dissidents’ medical team, at which point it was discovered that her spark was so tainted that it was on the verge of collapse, burning an evil dark green colour and giving off a sick wavelength. She did not survive much longer; Persephone sought her out at her Haunt and killed her in an explosive spark merge in revenge for the death of her daughter Scintilla. Pyroxene is remembered as an evil spirit on the level of Abyssus and Liege Maximo, and there are any number of ghost stories and superstitions meant to ward her shade away. She is said to be particularly attracted to the scene of murder, and even in modern forensics there are few investigators who will neglect to draw on protective spirits in order to ward off her malevolence.

 **Rhodian**   **[** _Rhodian Prime_ **]** — The third Prime, the son of Eos. Rhodian was chosen by the Matrix to succeed Genesis Prime at a very young age. To counter his lack of experience he was assigned a Regent by the Council. His Regent, Abyssus, betrayed his trust and raped him, trapping him within a fracture-bond he did not want and over the course of seven vorns kindling eight children within him. Despite such torture, he was never completely under Abyssus’ thrall, and late in his eighth pregnancy he escaped, making a perilous journey down the outside of the Primal Towers and fleeing to his mother, Eos. He was guarded fiercely by Persephone while he found his bearings, and took hold of his government as Abyssus was trialed and sentenced to indefinite imprisonment. He became close to Olivine, his housekeeper, and they were rumoured to be lovers but never proven so. It was thought that his experiences with Abyssus had rendered him infertile until his cleansing of Lightningblade resulted in the creation of simulcast twins, whom he gave to Lightningblade to raise. Late in his reign he was kidnapped by a newly-freed Abyssus, who tortured him to within an inch of his life and attempted to wrest the Matrix from his chest. Upon being rescued, he seemed to recover, but faded rapidly one night and made the decision to pass the Matrix on to Susurrus, a descendant of Alchemist. His rule saw the development of concepts regarding spark spectral divisions and societal consolidation of the cadre unit as well as huge advances in technology as more of Cybertron’s surface was claimed by the nation. Rhodian nowadays is a byword for pain and suffering; ‘praying to Rhodian Prime’ is a common euphemism for someone suffering from depression. 


	9. Sociology: Spark Spectra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was tossing up on whether to class this post under biology or sociology, as spark spectra divisions draw on both, but think in the end that what makes them _important_ to Cybertronian society is more socially constructed than biologically informed...

> _Spectral Classification_ _—_
>     
>     
>     >> The internal temperature range at which the spark burns plasma, which determines the charge output, cyclic and pulse rates, apparent colour, and resonant affinity of the spark. An important marker of identity for virtually all Cybertronians, due to the spark's status as the giver of life for all.

**\+ Eight Main-Sequence Spectrae:**

The eight sequential categories into which a little over 99% of the Cybertronian populace fit. The main-sequence spectrae are heavily socially codified, with stereotypes and idealized interpersonal roles associated with each. The system dates back to the Dynasty of Primes. Discovery - or initial charting - of the spectrae is mythically attributed to Alchemist; though none of his writings survived past the fall of the Dynasty, secondary sources from that Age quote his works at length. Over the intervening Ages, the Mythos has preserved the original system almost unchanged.

_M-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of Total Population:  _5.9%_
  * Luminosity values: _i - ii - iii - iv - I_



M-Spectra is the lowest-temperature category, appearing deep red to crimson in the spectrum of light visible to human sight and often quite dim. They give off a large proportion of their radiant energy as infrared, and are quite ‘noisy’, audible to some mecha as a faint, rhythmic whistle high in pitch. M-Spectra sparks are exceedingly stable as a general rule, with regular cyclic rates and relatively low output. This locks them out of the generative role in kindling; they just don’t have the ability to generate enough excess energy to spin together a functional newspark. They are however the ideal catalytic parent, and are often idealised as such. They generate enough energy to power frames of most size classes, but with little left over for additional spark-drawn systems. [As always there are exceptions to this rule; Megatron is one.] They tend to be slow-burning, and as a result enjoy natural lifespans markedly greater than their hot-spectrae fellows.

_K-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of Total Population:  _11.3%_
  * Luminosity values: _ii - iii - iv - I_



K-Spectra sparks burn a little hotter and are thus brighter, ranging from dark red-orange to bright saffron in apparent colour. Like M-Spectra sparks, they are very stable with low cyclic rates and luminosity. Their spectral corona is larger and more conductive than those of M-Spectra, making them not necessarily more generative but more efficient at using the energy generated. Although they do not take easily to additional spark-drawn systems, they are generally able to support them. K-Spectra  are highly catalytic, far more likely to trigger a generative reaction when introduced to another spark rather than to have a generative reaction induced in themselves. They are naturally long-lived; it is not unheard of for individuals to live for over sixty thousand vorn, or roughly five million years.

_G-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of Total Population:  _15.9%_
  * Luminosity values: _iii - iv - I - II_



G-Spectra sparks are the first of the temperate spectrae, burning bright gold to pale yellow. Their physical attributes are low (though increasing) luminosity, a steady, higher-tempo cyclic rate, and low-average output levels. They are adaptive enough that they have to work a bit harder to cause a generative reaction without being energetic enough to easily undergo such a reaction themselves. Their natural role is regulation of the generative spark and newspark; they are also capable of the catalytic - and, rarely, generative - roles. G-Spectra sparks have lower-density secondary meridians; they give off more energy in the form of flares and prominences, and their photospheres often intrude into the spectral corona, giving them a wispy appearance. 

_F-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of Total Population:  _21.8%_
  * Luminosity values: _iii - iv - II - III_



F-Spectra sparks appear yellow-white in the spectrum of visible light. They are median-temperature sparks with middle to high luminosity values and average output levels and cyclic rates. F-Spectra are the most common of the main-sequence types, appearing on average at a rate of one in five mecha. They are regulative in inclination, equally able to fulfil the generative and catalytic roles in kindling although most tend to find the catalytic role a little more natural. In the F-Spectra, the temperature at which the spark burns begins to break down the secondary meridian between thermosphere and photosphere entirely; the lack of its regulating influence resulting in a spark which gives off more energy at a quicker rate. F-Spectra mecha can expect to live to forty thousand vorn on average.

_A-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of Total Population:  _17.6%_
  * Luminosity values: _iv - I - II - III_



A-Spectra sparks appear white or off-white when viewed in the spectrum of visible light. Mid- to high-temperature and with middling-high output rates, they can be brighter than their physical attributes would suggest. Again less stable than the preceding spectrae, they are regulative by nature and able to fulfil any of the three kindling roles, but tend to be slightly more inclined towards that of the generative parent. They are again less stable than F-Spectra; their spectral coronae are commonly dispersed and their secondary meridian is further broken down. Sparks of A-Spectra and higher-output spectrae generally have no problem producing enough energy for additional spark-drawn systems, and tend to make up a relatively high proportion of long-distance adapted frametypes.

_B-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of Total Population:  _14.2%_
  * Luminosity values:  _I - II - III - IV_



The first of the hot-spectrae, B-Spectra sparks appear blue-white when viewed in the spectrum of visible light. They are high-temperature sparks with high luminosity values and high generative output. They lack the regulative influence of the secondary meridian entirely and the large volumes of energy which they give off lend them a large and highly dispersed spectral corona; in person, they look active and stormy. They are generative by nature, though able to fulfil all three kindling roles; their active and energy-rich sparks generate plasmatic material from which to spin together a newspark quite easily. They are shorter-lived than most other mecha, the average lifespan being around thirty to thirty-five thousand vorn.

_O-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of Total Population: _9.6%_
  * Luminosity values: _I - II - III - IV - V_



O-Spectra are high-temperature, unstable sparks appearing shades of vivid blue when viewed in the spectrum of visible light. O-Spectra was once thought to be the hottest a spark could get without melting the chamber it resided in; the discovery of W-Spectra refuted this, but the O-Spectra are still treated with a wary sort of respect. Due to their extreme heat they lack a secondary meridian entirely and have fully dispersed spectral coronae - they look violent and somewhat wispy, often lacking the neat spherical shape of lower-temperature sparks. They are technically capable of all three kindling roles, but find it vastly easier to fulfil the role of the generative parent. Their highly-generative, unstable natures make them the ideal carrier spark, and they tend to be sought-after as a result. They live short lives; thirty thousand vorn is considered a good run.

_W-Spectra—_

  * Percentage of total population:  _3.0%_
  * Luminosity values: _I - II - III_



Very high-temperature, unstable sparks appearing blue-purple to bright violet when viewed in the spectrum of visible light. W-Spectra sparks give off a significant proportion of their energy in ultraviolet light and thus can be relatively dim compared to the other hot-spectrae when viewed without ultraviolet capability. They not only lack a secondary meridian, but also due to their extreme heat a fully functioning internal primary meridian, giving them extreme generative ability at the cost of the ability to self-regulate their output rates. W-Spectra sparks give off a lot of energy, all the time. This makes them ideal candidates for very energy-hungry additional spark-drawn systems, and ties them to the Generator system configuration, which is more capable of handling the amounts of energy they deal with on a daily basis. They are locked into the generative role in kindling, and to attempt otherwise is to court an explosive death. They tend to live thirty thousand vorn at most. 

**\+ Extended Spectrae:**

A further 0.7% of the population do not fit into the eight main-sequence spectrae due to the presence of one of a few extended-spectrae conditions. The existence of these extended spectrae is established medical fact, but due to their relative rarity and lack of popular understanding as to what exactly they are, extended-spectrae mecha can face challenges which their basic-spectrae brethren do not. Study of the extended spectrae was begun in the Second Generation and awareness of spectral divergence at least has existed since that era. Attitudes have however hardly varied in the intervening ages. 

_[three examples of spectral-divergent sparks: from left, OW-spectra, GF-spectra, and KG-spectra respectively]_

Spectral divergence is the most common of the extended-spectrae groups, affecting around one in every 500 mecha. The term refers to sparks whose core and outer spectra do not match, as in the above examples, thus giving off two simultaneous spectral signatures. Such sparks are generally hard to diagnose, as in most cases one spectra signature [usually the thermospheric spectra] will override the other. It can occur naturally, generally in budded sparks, or it can develop over the course of a mech’s life as the result of outward stimuli. Of the latter group, extended trauma such as major illness, abuse of any sort, or difficult generative cycles is the most common cause: sparks under stress tend to wear away at their internal meridians and extended stress of this sort can destabilise part or all of the spark, resulting in  _hot-spectralisation_ _—_  the permanent increase of spectral temperature. Spectral divergence by itself is benign, but it can be an indication of past or present health problems and spectral-divergent mecha do tend to be slightly more prone to stress fractures and cyclic arrhythmia. 

_[spark exhibiting dwarf-core syndrome]_

Other extended spectral states include  _dispectralism_  [sparks which straddle the borders between two spectrae and cannot be said to be one rather than the other with any degree of certainty],  _spectral fluidity_  [unstable, usually hot-spectra sparks which switch back and forth across the temperature border between two sequential spectrae due to variation in physiological stress levels] and  _dwarf-core syndrome_  [M-spectra sparks with cold, inert and sluggish cores]. Dispectralism and spectral fluidity are entirely benign conditions and often go largely unnoticed. Dwarf-core syndrome on the other hand is obvious - such mecha tend to have extremely weak or subtle EM fields, and often suffer from very low charge levels, thus limiting them to smaller groundbound frame types. This can be mitigated by outfitting the mech with a secondary power plant to bring them up to normal levels; such mecha often benefit from the coefficient system configuration. 

> **\+ Relationships and Social Status:**

The importance of spark spectra in the daily lives of all mecha is almost entirely social. Aside from the difference in expected lifespan and generative output, it has little impact on the health or personality of any given mech. Spark spectra’s seeming relevance to the ultimate source of all Cybertronian life has however  resulted in a whole host of meanings, traditions, stereotypes and idealizations surrounding each of the main-sequence spectrae. These are codified within the Mythos and enforced differently by each broadstream.

The basic Cybertronian social unit is the cadre, a polyamorous grouping of three to eight individual mecha. Historically the number aspired to was seven or eight: it was considered ideal to have one of each spectral typing, in a so-called ‘perfect cadre’. Each of the spectra would be given a role to fulfil within the cadre and one outside of the cadre. They would interact with each other following the guidelines set down by the Mythos, and carry out their daily lives in manners markedly different; they would even have separate methods of worship and expressions of faith.

F-Spectra was historically the dominant spectra. As the most common, the chances were good that almost any cadre would include at least one, not uncommonly two, F-Spectra mecha. They fulfilled a leadership role both within and without the cadre, making most executive decisions and providing the cadre with its overall direction. They were expected to be leaders and administrators; traits valued in them included decisiveness, confidence, analytic ability and determination. F-Spectra worked most closely with O-Spectra and M-Spectra, but had a lot to do with the entire cadre regardless of spectra. In most broadstreams of the Mythos, they were responsible for the cadre’s public worship, for example Eighth and Chordal Rites; they spoke the leading prayers and carried out most rituals for the Thirteen.

O-Spectra, where they appeared, generally formed the heart of the cadre. They fulfilled leadership roles, but in a markedly different manner; they were providers and nurturers, providing support and care to the members of the cadre. Outside the cadre, they carried out closer communication with other agents than the F-Spectra were supposed to, and negotiations or social engagements with an O-Spectra mech present were generally taken as an expression of good will and respect. Traits valued in them were warmth, emotional intelligence, empathy and kindness. They worked most closely with the cool-spectrae, having similar vocations within the cadre to the K-Spectra and being something of a counterbalance to the martial M-Spectra, and with the B-Spectra order-keepers. O-Spectra were highly involved with the Mythos, being closely associated with Primus. They spoke little in public worship and often carried out secret rituals and made devotive gifts. 

M-Spectra mecha had a very specific role - that of guardian of the cadre. They were considered subservient within the cadre, but carried out a dominant role with regards to the cadre’s external relations, and in times of crisis became the cadre’s guide and caretaker in place of the F-Spectra. Traits valued in them included strength, determination, proactive judgement and an impersonal system of values and prioritization. Physical size was also valued, though to a lesser extent. M-Spectra occupied a position on the outside of the cadre and was considered for the most part neither dominant nor subservient. They worked most closely with the F-Spectra administrators, and were balanced out by the O-Spectra. They seldom had much to do with worship - it was widely considered that they had bigger things to be worrying about - but were closely associated with the four warriors of the Thirteen: Prima the Sword, the Wanderer, Liege Maximo the Burning Torch and Megatronus the Shield. 

K-Spectra carried a fair amount of influence within the cadre as teachers and guides, mecha who knew what they were doing and where they were going and were willing to take others along for the ride. They worked closely with the hot-spectrae as mediators within the cadre, and often fulfilled a support role for the M-Spectra in times of crisis. They were considered dominant within the cadre, and closely worked with the O-Spectra in matters of support and care for the other members of the group, but in public were expected to step back and let others handle the talking. Qualities valued in them include intelligence, tenacity, empathy and patience. People skills were also valued in K-Spectra mecha, and those who were perhaps more awkward and short of temper or attention span were often put under intense pressure to conform. They seldom took part in public worship but, like the O-Spectra, often carried out private worship in the form of prayers and devotives.

A-Spectra mecha worked closely with the F-Spectra as administrators and organisers, handling the process of daily life on a smaller and more detailed scale. They were vitally important as a result. Their primary duties were internal governance of the cadre, for example in handling finances and acquisition of supplies. They also quite often worked with O-Spectra and B-Spectra in handling personal and group communication, particularly in practical matters. Like M-Spectra they were neither particularly dominant not subservient, except perhaps to the F-Spectra. Qualities valued in the A-Spectra were practical analysis, problem-solving ability, work ethic and even-temperedness. Like the M-Spectra they did not often take part in worship, generally tending to stick to their own spectra’s small, private rites and prayers. 

B-Spectra mecha traditionally fulfilled the roles of duty fulfillers and peacekeepers for the cadre. In this role they assisted F-Spectra, A-Spectra and O-Spectra in their own administrative roles, and while they were considered subordinate within the cadre, they held a large amount of influence. They held veto power in discussions and in disagreements between other members of the cadre their judgement was generally upheld. As with O-Spectra, their presence in inter-cadre communication was a signal that discussions had passed the initial negotiation stage, and they were often given much headway in these communications. They were expected to be scrupulously fair and highly discerning; qualities valued in them were diligence, loyalty, strong value and moral systems, and decisiveness. They tended to be highly involved with worship and often represented their cadres in the public Rites.

G-Spectra mecha were the second most common spectra, and like the F-Spectra it was not uncommon to find two in one cadre. In a traditional cadre structure they were closely associated with the hot-spectrae, filling a supportive and largely subservient role to assist with the often exhausting expectations placed upon those mecha. As social roles evolved they took on some aspects of the A-Spectra quartermasters and B-Spectra peacemakers’ roles, becoming mecha who made sure that everyone else had what they needed to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Qualities valued in them were kindness, empathy, mental endurance and proactivity. They often played a large role in public worship, assisting those who led the Rites, and were generally expected to ensure that those of their household carried out the private rites of their own spectrae. G-Spectra also generally kept the cadre’s Books of the Mythos, and attended the household shrines.

W-Spectra was not adopted into the main-sequence spectrae until the middle First Generation, and so there was much more variation from region to region in the roles and traits expected of them. Their traditional role over much of Cybertron eventually became one of support, much like the G-Spectra, but where the G-Spectra was beholden to the hot-spectrae, W-Spectra was assigned to the cool-spectrae. Where they appear, they fulfil roles of mediation between the hot-spectrae and the cool-spectrae, assisting the K-Spectra and often the M-Spectra directly to soften their perceived edges. Qualities valued in them are adaptability, quick thinking, the ability to follow orders and proactivity. In the Mythos they are for the most part limited to the private sphere, where they generally assist K-Spectra and G-Spectra in their duties (and if either is not present in the cadre, are able to fill in with the blessings of those in the Mythos). 

The status and treatment of extended-spectrae mecha varies depending on a variety of factors. Public awareness of the existence of spectral divergence at least was common, but a lack of understanding about what it actually entailed, fueled prejudice and misconceptions. The idea that it was caused by trauma was often used to dismiss it as a disease or abnormal medical condition, and this fueled the public perception that it was something inherently negative, that needed a cure. Spectral fluidity and dispectralism were acknowledged by few outside the medical field, and rarer spark spectra, inherent and acquired, were the subject of intense debate up until the advent of the Great War.

As with most things, a high-caste mech can expect to be given more leeway than a low-caste mech can; a Praxian more than an Iaconian or Tyger Paxi, and a Fifth-Congregation member more than a Functionalist. 

> **\+ Inheritance of Spectra:**

Inheritance of spark spectra in kindlemecha is decided by several factors. The first and most important is the spectra of the generative parent, inside whose spark the newspark spends the first few years of its life. The hotter-spectrae tend not to have hot-spectrae offspring - it is theorised that their sparks, being extremely generative and active, are a tougher environment which newsparks need a certain amount of stability or equal generative force to survive. Other factors include the spectrae of catalytic and/or regulative parents, the metallicity of the generative parent’s spark chamber, and the number of merges engaged in during the generative period by the parents.

Although certain pairings of generative and catalytic parents are more likely to produce offspring of certain spectrae, this is not an observed rule. Cybertronian population data shows a fairly consistent 55/45 split in favour of the catalytic group, spectrae M to F. 

Nobody knows how the Well of All Sparks determines the spectra of cold-constructed mecha. It’s one of the few things that can’t be preprogrammed. Nevertheless, the same 55/45 split is observed, and well-born newsparks arrive in roughly the same proportions per spectra as kindlemecha. It’s one of the great mysteries of the world.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [LeggyStarscream](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LeggyStarscream), off whom I bounced a lot of these ideas, and whose math skillz helped this poor ol' kiwi to make sense of the numbery stuff I'd gotten myself into.


	10. Geology: a Cybertronian World Map

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The updated version of the previous chapter on the map, complete with short descriptions of the city-states and most well-known geographical features of Cybertron.

## ♕┊ the Boreal States

_Iacon.━_  the Imperial capital of Cybertron, Iacon was founded as a trading hub near the north magnetic pole of the planet, and became a rich interstellar cargo port before becoming home to the Primes, who wanted to keep a close optic on their nation’s biggest source of income, in the early Age of Exploration. The city is built on top of the northernmost tip of the **Manganese Mountains** , the Stellar Galleries, and parts of the Polar Depression. The hive city itself is surrounded by thousands of square leagues of subcities, many of them with their own hives. The city and immediate surroundings played host to more than ninety million sparks during the heyday of the Empire.

_the Observatories.━_  flat-topped table mountains upon which sit Iacon’s most exclusive districts, full of old mining operations turned into boutique shopping malls and custom homes for the eccentrically-minded. One pays a lot to get up here, even to visit; the metro zone fares are jacked up to take advantage of the regular clientele.

_the Boreal Flats.━_  a general term for the flat plains surrounding Iacon, which at their lowest are occupied by the third largest liquid body on the planet, the **Mare Chryseis**. Parts surrounding the magnetic pole are known as the **Polar Depression**. Known widely for its bad weather.

_Pion.━_  a smaller city built on top of a scenic lake in the middle of the mountains, which hosts the flagship campuses of many of Cybertron’s most prestigious universities. Has a reputation for being full of snobs, because it’s a top tourist destination among the northeastern population centers of Cybertron. Also a center for Golden Age architecture, known as one of the most visually and technologically striking cities anywhere in the Empire. The population hovers perennially at around 12 million.

_Rodion.━_  the largest of Iacon’s satellite cities, located about a hundred leagues south on the Polar Highway. Rodion is a flat, unremarkable city, prone to flooding in its lowest levels. Bordered on the south by the lower branch of the **Manganese Mountains** , it sits right in the math of the annual spring melts. Rodion’s population reached 35 million during the Age of Rust. Its two largest population demographics are low-caste manufacturing workers and the military.

_Burthov.━_  One of the two main ports on the **Sea of Rust**. Burthov has a reputation for squalor, inefficiency and corruption that would make any government agent quail. The city follows the coastline of Thunder Passage for a hundred leagues, sandwiched on a narrow coastal plain between the mountains and the Sea. It is very old, and contains many relics of the Dynasty of Primes. The port dominates the city, producing a constant grey smog that lurks about the foothills. If you’re rich in Burthov, you build your house up in the Highlands. The population was estimated at over a hundred million, but it’s hard to tell because so many of the lowest castes are undocumented arrivals from other states.

_Kalis.━_ A sprawling city covering the hills south of the Mare Chryseis, Kalis is the northern terminus of the Western Trunk Road from Tarn. As one of Cybertron’s younger cities, it has the simultaneous reputation of being hip and modern where the money is, and an overbuilt monstrosity everywhere else. The prestigious districts in the state cluster around the satellite polity of Graveyard Sound, on the edge of the Mare. Kalis’ population is estimated at around 40 million individuals, making it one of the five largest in the northern hemisphere.

_Tyrest.━_ The home of the Accord between Cybertron and the Council of Galactic States, Tyrest is the third largest and second richest city in the northern hemisphere. It is also one of the oldest, dating back nearly a billion years to the time of the Cataclysm. Tyrest is primarily known for business and secondary industry, with a significant proportion of the higher caste population being involved in the intergalactic political scene. Tyrest hosts Cybertron’s largest university, the flagship campus of the Northern States Academy. Its lords are the dramatic and powerful Pax Aella clade; its most popular serial videocast is a dramatization of that clan’s rise to power long ago.

_Kimia.━_ Nestled on the edge of the geologically fractious Mitteous Plateau, Kimia plays host to Cybertron’s most celebrated sunsets and its most well-known minority group. The Palace of Eight Queens, from which the Arachnicon nation is ruled, rests among the crags high above the city. Kimia is a primarily industrial state, with the majority of its population involved in resource farming and mining. Population densities are low, due its location in the farthest northeast corner of the Tagan Seaboard; it is considered a good place to retire to.

_Mare Chryseis.━_ A low-lying and very large lake located within the Boreal polar region, the Mare Chryseis spends most of its time locked under a thick sheet of ice. The southern shores are a popular tourist destination, while the more northern parts are frequented by thrillseekers, explorers, and natural scientists. Take a magnet to the rare sandy beaches in the west; they are composed primarily of black iron sand.

_the Mitteous Plateau.━_  A geologically unstable and tectonically active region in Cybertron’s northeast corner, home to the Arachnicons. The Mitteous Plateau is undergoing orogeny and erosion at a rate unmatched by anywhere else on Cybertron; it can be dangerous if a traveller does not know what they are doing. The constant exposure of rich new veins of ore makes the border region of the plateau one of Cybertron’s mining hotspots. The Mitteous Plateau is primarily administered by the state governments of Kimia and Protihex.

## ♕┊ the Tagan Heights and Eastern Corridor

_Praxus.━_  a city a little larger than Iacon, and with every bit the pomp and splendor. Praxus forms the western corner of the geopolitical unit dominated by Vos, and is known by many of the same stereotypes as that city. Its largest sectors of population are involved in trade and the military, reflecting a status among the homeworld states that is second only to Iacon. Praxians developed and reified Cybertronian art forms, creating a city which is as beautiful as any on the planet. Its inhabitants carry a perhaps unfair reputation for being orderly buffoons. The population is estimated at around forty million, with a significant underground population; the city covers a land area of about five thousand square leagues.

_Altihex.━_  one of the smaller northern cities, located on a strategic tabletop plateau between the Tagan Heights and the Mitteous Plateau. The city plays host to about eight million sparks, most of which are tier seven industrial workers employed within the city limits or in the Tagan hinterlands. The mountains on which it sits tend to collect clouds, resulting in a significant number of days per vorn in which fog lights become absolutely necessary.  

_Tetrahex.━_  the regional center of the western Mitteous Plateau, forming the northern corner of the Vosian sphere of dominance. Tetrahex is dominated by the military castes, and heavily influenced by the mystic order of **Clavis Aurea.** The city is of middling size, with a population of around 18 million. It was built among the rifts of the western edge of the Mitteous Plateau, and like Vos, to whom it owes significant cultural influence, it is largely populated by flight-capable frames. This is because, also like Vos, it is largely inaccessible to the majority of traditional groundframes. If you go holidaying in Tetrahex, invest in an offroading alt.

_Polyhex.━_  an industrial powerhouse of the Empire, located on the northern edge of the  **Praetorian Estuary** about fifteen minutes’ drive from the biggest ore works and mines of the  **Manganese Mountains**. Polyhex is tied with Tarn for first place in the dubious honour of which city-states have the least legal protections for their residents’ basic rights. Polyhex plays host to just under 80 million sparks, a full quarter of which earn under the Imperial poverty threshold. The most recognizable structure in the city is the massive black tower which housed the Polyhex Board of Ethics during the later stages of the Golden Age – and which would later be recycled by occupying Decepticons into the fortress known as Darkmount.

_the Manganese Mountains.━_ a chain of block-uplift mountains stretching from the Boreal pole to the southeast of the Mitteous Plateau. Rich in manganese, hence the name, and in many other useful minerals besides. The Mountains as a geopolitical unit are administered jointly by Iacon and Polyhex, who often squabble over particularly shiny bits.

_the Tagan Heights.━_  an extensive system of plateaux covering nearly a quarter of Cybertron’s total land area, the Tagan Heights fueled the industrial Golden Age which allowed Cybertron to become and interplanetary imperial superpower. A rugged, merciless landscape that yielded massive deposits of iron and Cybertronium when prospected, it was the Empire’s first try at large-scale terraforming. The cities of Vos, Protihex, Altihex, and Hexima are the largest in this region, with a surprisingly large total population for having the shared trait of being buried under snow and darkness for nearly half the vorn.

_the Eastern Corridor.━_  the wide coastal plains between the Tagan Heights and the Sea of Rust, running from Centralia in the south to the Manganese Mountains in the far north, historically known as the _Tagan Rus_. This became a population center during the pre-Imperial confederation period, with the populations of Praxus, Tetrahex, and Polyhex experiencing extended population booms which precipitated the founding and settlement of a multitude of satellite cities. The culture of the Eastern Corridor was derived in large part from the self-sufficient ideals of the original settlers, lending these populations a reputation for being quiet and somewhat preoccupied with themselves. Praxians, the most famous of the Eastern Corridor’s children, became the face of the stereotype, which persisted for better or for worse.

_Praetorus.━_  a settlement half in and out of the Sea of Rust, sprawled across islands of bedrock at the mouth of the Praetorian Estuary. Praetorus was settled by traders who worked the routes along the eastern Sea of Rust, following the fiords and rivers of the Estuary inland to the Tagan and Polyhexi industrial centers. It is one of the smallest independent city states, with a population of two and a half million.

_the Praetorian Estuary.━_  a complex system of rift valleys and fluvial channels which drain snowmelt from the Mitteous Plateau, the Manganese Mountains and much of the southeast Polar Depression. The estuary floods every spring, twice a year, something which is an awesome sight to see but makes farming and industry in the greater region a risky business. Despite the northern Estuary’s industrial output in the form of Greater Polyhex, it is home to some of the poorest communities outside the Southern Rust Belt, which made it an inevitable target for Decepticon recruiters.

_Uraya.━_ a southern neighbour of Polyhex, sharing its mineral riches and crippling social inequalities. The running joke in the north goes that Uraya is the poor mech’s Polyhex; where you go when you don’t have the money for the pretense of labour laws. **(** It’s not a very fun joke. **)** The population hovers around twenty five million, crammed into a narrow floodplain measuring just over a thousand square leagues in area.

_Harmonex.━_ the small city at the entrance of the Sonic Canyons, one of Cybertron’s most famous tourist destinations. Most visitors to the city get more than they bargained for – Harmonex _sings_. The nearby Sonic Canyons collect the distant sound of the city, which reverberates around the canyon network for a while and is reflected eventually back out into the Harmonexi hinterlands. The volume varies from a distant hum to a shriek like gusts of wind. Harmonex is one of a few large cities without central hives: a land area of 6000 square leagues and a population of nearly 30 million makes it one of the largest in the Eastern Corridor.

_Protihex.━_  the oldest city in the region, founded during the Dynasty of Primes by the Thirteen around the **Well of All Sparks** and Solus the Forger’s grave. Protihex was abandoned for several dozen millennia during and after the Cataclysm **;** its rediscovery precipitated a vicious conflict over the office of the Prime, and a schism lasting several thousand vorn in which two mecha simultaneously claimed the Primacy. The Protihexi Prime lacked the Matrix, but laid claim to the Well. Ever since, the city’s global power has come from its custodianship of the Well and by extension all the sparks which rise from its depths. The city itself is small, but fiercely defended. Its inhabitants have a reputation for being insular and arrogant.  

_Vos.━_ the city of Seekers, founded in a network of valleys surrounded by hundreds of miles of the inaccessible central Tagan Heights. Vos took the hive city style of architecture and turned it inside out, creating a network of spires exposed to the air which allowed for easy flight between the components of the city no matter the level. To mecha used to the heavy, ground-hugging style of other cities, Vos is a striking and alien landscape. The vast majority of its nearly 60 million sparks are flighted – the city is just plain inconvenient for grounders.

## ♕┊ the Central Lowlands

_the First City.━_  as the name suggests, this is the oldest city on Cybertron. Legend has it that it came through the upheaval of the Cataclysm unharmed, but archaeological evidence suggests otherwise. The First City is located along the banks of one of Cybertron’s rare rivers, fed by snowmelt from the **Main Divide**. It covers an area of approximately 8000 square leagues and hosts around 30 million inhabitants, though a significant underground population makes this a conservative estimate. The most notable feature of the city is the walled enclave surrounding the old city center, a fortified remnant of times when Cybertron was not so peaceful.

_Metrotitan.━_  the place where the first sparked city was created, by which name the frame type as a whole came to be known. Metrotitan is an old city, and not particularly noticeable otherwise; it came by its status of independent city-statehood by having existed prior to Imperial unification. Visitors are often disappointed by the lack of actual metrotitans.

_Meridia.━_  the largest city in the Central Lowlands, a metropolis of over 80 million sparks. Meridia is distinguished solely by its size – one of the largest cities on Cybertron by land area, measuring at around 14,000 square leagues. It is the conglomeration of a handful of smaller cities dating back to the age following the Cataclysm, featuring a handful of separate hive cities and half a dozen metrotitans. Like Tyger Pax, it is a cultural melting pot. Meridia’s dominant demographics are the labor and arts castes, the former by sheer weight of numbers and the latter by cultural significance. Visit Meridia for all museums and art galleries your spark desires.

_the Central Lowlands / Centralia.━_  the cradle of Cybertronian civilization, Centralia is where the Thirteen reportedly pitched their camp after the defeat of Unicron. The original locations of its cities are long lost under the impact craters and rift valleys of the Cataclysm, but the history lives on in place names and the underground maps of the Patterners.

_Thetacon.━_  located on a coastal plain in the far east of Centralia, Thetacon is the gateway to the Eastern Corridor and the Tagan Heights. Scant archaeological evidence suggest that the founding of the city prior to the Cataclysm may have had something to do with Predacons. South of the city lays a massive fossil field, much studied by archaeologists. Thetacon itself is a very large city, hosting around 55 million sparks and a handful of metrotitans. It has a reputation for being insular and crime-ridden **;** if so, it hides it well.

_Crystal City.━_  the city of miracles, Cybertron’s premier city of science and academia. Nestled among the crystal formations of the southwestern Tagan Heights, the city skyline is dominated by glass, clearsteel, and decorative crystal cladding on a massive scale. Crystal City was founded as a stopover on the route up into Harmonex and the southern Tagan Heights, but as time went by, it came to be known as a spiritual retreat. Science came to Crystal City in the form of the purpose-built headquarters of the Interstellar Exploration Division, the Empire’s offworld colonization apparatus. At the end of the Golden Age, Crystal City hosted 35 million sparks.

_Central City.━_  located near the hypocenter of Cybertronian culture, Central City was founded by travellers from the First City who had outgrown the fortified walls. It was named so apparently because it laid at the geographical center of Centralia at the time, an unimaginative name for an unimaginatively built city. Central City, like the First City and many other Dynastic locations, is built flat, lacking hive cities and laid out according to a strict grid plan. The modern city is not large, having stagnated through much of the Golden Age – the population is around 22 million sparks, largely those of the labor and industrial castes.

_the Sea of Rust.━_  Cybertron’s largest liquid body by surface area, and the effective northern edge of Centralia. The Sea of Rust consists mainly of ferrous hydroxide, from which it got its name. The equatorial latitudes of the Sea are warm and tropical, with large bergs of green rust resulting from liquid evaporation; north a little, the concentration is balanced enough that in most locales it is swimmable by Cybertronians **(** with appropriate altmodes **);** and in the northern shores, along the Thunder Passage and Burthov, it begins to freeze in the long winters to a soft off-white slush. The Sea of Rust served as a trading route between the Well of All Sparks at Protihex and Centralia during the Dynastic Period, which culminated in the Great Schism and the rule of two rival Primes at each of those seats of power. Its importance waned as Cybertronian trade moved offworld in search of new partners, and the recession which would eventually bring the Golden Age to an end is generally thought to have originated in the loss of the main shipping routes around the Sea.

_the Hydrax Plateau.━_  Cybertron’s largest island, a tectonic drifter lifted out of the Sea of Rust during the spasms of the Cataclysm. In the aeons since, the Hydrax Plateau has lain still and been colonized by successive groups of Cybertronians. The Plateau is known for surface veins of minerals which ordinarily form deep in Cybertron’s crust, most of which are only of interest to geologists and historians. Some, however, have proven useful to industry, and throughout the Golden Age the local government maintained a dictatorial hold on the rights to these locations, prompting many long, drawn-out legal battles and a saying that those who argue for the sake of argument are possessed of a ‘Hydraxi temperament’.

## ♕┊ the Main Divide and Western Cybertron

_Tarn.━_  bearing the title of second-largest city on Cybertron, Tarn covers a land area of close to fifteen thousand square leagues and hosts a population of well over 167 million sparks – how much more is hard to tell. Like Burthov and Polyhex, Tarn possesses a massive underground population, many of whom lack official documentation by circumstance or design. Tarn’s economic strength made it hard for Imperial watchdogs to operate in the region, as any sanctions they imposed for legal breaches hurt Iacon more than Tarn. As such, the city gained an entirely deserved reputation for exploitation. Despite this, immigration into the city far outweighed emigration – the lure of jobs and money proved stronger. As the Dusk Age hit, the economic giant faltered. Despite massive efforts to prop the local industries up, many failed, and the city imploded into abject poverty, bringing revolt and civil war to Tarn

_the Iron Ridge.━_  a massive series of plateaux and high mountain ranges rich in ores of all sorts, this is the main catchment zone and industrial hinterland fueling the economic powerhouse of Tarn. Like the Tagan Heights, the Iron Ridge is a high-elevation death trap for the unwary, but its hidden bounties have been the source of riches beyond belief for the West’s luckiest inhabitants. It is known to host seven out of the ten highest mountains on Cybertron, and a surprising amount of mecha willing to bear the worst of its weather for the sake of its natural resources.

_Tyger Pax.━_ the holiest city on Cybertron, the southern sister of Protihex and the Well. Tyger Pax was the historical residence of the Primacy, serving as Cybertron’s capital even before Imperial unification. The center of the city is the Dawn Basilica, the replica of the first Sanctuary to Primus built by the Thirteen. Before the Primacy’s migration to Iacon, it was known as the most beautiful example of Cybertronian culture anywhere. After the Primes left, Tyger Pax stopped putting in the effort. The city’s population of nearly 50 million nevertheless swells each summer with up to five million pilgrims, seeking out the holy places trodden by ancient Primes. It lacks a hive city – the underground population crowd into districts in the north and west. The area covered by permanent city reaches twelve thousand square leagues **;** counting shanty towns, the total comes up to twenty thousand.

_the Main Divide.━_ the narrow chain of mountains separating northern Centralia and the Acid Wastes from the beautiful **Occidental Rus**. The Main Divide remained unexplored well into the Golden Age, and is still rumoured to host hidden populations of Cybertronians who survived the wars and the Cataclysm among the steep peaks and deep rift valleys that characterize the region.

_Simfur.━_  a trade city along the southwestern trunk line, founded and settled under the shadows of uplifted mountains that loom like vast predatory birds. Simfur is known as the gateway to the Western Hemisphere, situated in the middle of the lowland pass between the Iron Ridge and the heights of the Main Divide. The railways that opened up the West were largely based out of Simfur during the early Golden Age, expanding the city from a minor regional center to a megalopolis of more than 50 million inhabitants.

_Hive City.━_  a northwestern industrial city, and the oldest example of hive architecture anywhere on the planet. Hive City was founded as a nameless outpost on the edge of the Tyrest Fracture Zone, and over the course of the early Golden Age quickly outgrew its location. The city planners and engineers solved the problem of lack of usable space by building up and inwards, creating a lump of structures around massive support columns which from a distance is often mistaken for a solid mountain. Hive City’s modern population clocks in at around 18 million sparks, covering a land area of under 1000 square leagues. It is one of the poorest cities in the Northern Hemisphere.

_Nyon.━_  a remote city on the northwestern trunk road to Ibex. There is a running joke among many northwestern cultures that Nyon does not exist at all. This irritates the local government, but paradoxically provides popular attention that Nyon would otherwise not be getting. Many young Nyonians emigrate to Ibex and Tyger Pax at the first opportunity, another subject of local grouching. The drain on the literati and business castes this has created is resulting in the steady evolution of the city from a trade-focused economy to industry and production. Nyon’s population is somewhere around twelve million and trending downward.

_Nova Cronum.━_  an industrial city in the west of the Sea of Rust, Nova Cronum rests on the borders of the **Acid Wastes**. The city is known for its efficient and well-maintained wastewater system and street hygiene corps, and also for being the place where half an hour driving in the rain will strip the paint from your plating and dissolve the plastic in your bad-weather insulation systems. Despite the danger, Nova Cronum has a population of approaching twenty million, most of which are engaged in the industrial and service castes. It was the home of an early philosophical movement known as **the Rubellites** , which espoused equality between castes and the importance of free will. Its most notable natural feature is the massive tide that create beaches more than two leagues wide along the local shore of the Sea of Rust.  

_Ibex.━_  a city that grinds to a halt every vorn for the running of the Ibex Cup, the culmination of the Cybertronian Empire’s multi-billion dollar street race circuit. Ibex is the largest of the Occidental cities, with a land area of approaching nine thousand square leagues and a population around thirty-eight million. It is known for its night life, tourist opportunities, and a whole lot of sleazy business deals. You can make it big in Ibex, but it makes you ruthless – or so the saying goes. The population includes a significant military sectory **;** Ibex is the western hub of the Cybertronian Imperial Army.

_Mare Occidentalis.━_  Cybertron’s second largest liquid body, the Mare Occidentalis spans from eastern to western hemisphere, the other side of the planet’s answer to the Tagan Heights. Its shores are ringed with many of Cybertron’s youngest and richest cities, the waterfront districts of Ibex and Centurion being the hottest tourist destinations of the late Golden Age. The Mare is deeper and marginally larger in volume than the Sea of Rust, but loses out on surface area. Its depths are not well studied ━ if you’re going to look for cryptids anywhere on Cybertron, you might as well start here.

_Centurion.━_  Nestled in the rift valley between two lakeside plateaux, Centurion began life as an army outpost which was repurposed as a regional industrial center following the exploration of the upper Occidental Quarter. Its closest large neighbour by land is Protihex, across the Cybertronian date line in the far east **;** driving the road to Centurion, you skip a day ahead. Its lakeside location is picturesque but also somewhat inconvenient – trade winds funnel the humid summer air north, where it runs into the mountains and condenses into orographic rain. Flooding is an acknowledged risk of living in the area.

_Hyperious.━_  located in the southwest arm of the Mare Occidentalis, a young and vibrant city. Like most of the Western Hemisphere, Hyperious has the reputation of being wild and exotic. Also like the rest of the Hemisphere, it exploits the slag out of this reputation. As an equatorial city it retains a relatively warm average temperature year-round, with a dry winter and humid summer. Living costs in Hyperious tend to reflect this – of all the Western cities, it has the cheapest prices on rent and basic utilities. The city covers an area of about 1900 square leagues, and hosts a population of around 3 million. Despite its small size, it was created as an independent state, with its own governor and local Senate.

_the Acid Wastes.━_  nowhere anyone of any consequence need go. Found just west of Nova Cronum, the Acid Wastes are an atmospheric dead zone which collects much of the pollution originating in the cities of the northern Rust Sea and the Boreal States. There is, unsurprisingly, acid rain here. Conversely, it is also a tourist destination for the religiously-minded; as due to the acidic precipitation washing away impurities, the Wastes are one of the only places on the surface of Cybertron where the original Dynastic landscape has survived.

_Proximax.━_  a remote southwestern city with a tendency to be forgotten about and left off maps. Proximax was founded late, an outpost of Tarn on the border between the Iron Ridge and the Austral polar regions. It has a population of about five million, and perhaps twice that in the surrounding hinterlands. It is constantly overshadowed by its larger industrial neighbours, the closest of which are Tarn and Kaon. Proximax is considered an independent city state by virtue of its sheer inaccessibility – given that it can be rendered completely cut off from the Cybertronian network during a harsh winter, the city must have its own governor on site. Proximaxi folk have a reputation for being resilient and self-sufficient. The city was one of the last economies to succumb to the global recession of the Dusk Ages

## ♕┊ the Industrial South

_Kaon.━_  The home of Megatronus, Cybertron’s most revered and reviled son. Built almost directly on top of the Austral magnetic pole, Kaon is part of the **Southern Rust Belt** , the Empire’s manufacturing powerhouse. It holds the title of largest city on the planet, covering roughly 11,000 square leagues and hosting more than 300 million inhabitants. The population is almost exclusively low-caste, mainly engaged in primary industry or manufacturing. There is a very large underground population, making censuses impractical, and government oversight of industry is near nonexistent. Kaon has a _(_ not entirely undeserved _)_ reputation for being the place where you go when you don’t want to be found; the city has become a colloquialism referring to things which are out of sight and thus out of mind: “It’s in Kaon for all I care.”

_the Cataract.━_  An urban satellite of Kaon, the Cataract is a city which grew up around an ancient religious site and was incorporated into the greater Kaon conurbation out of sheer laziness on the part of the city planners in Iacon. Like the rest of the Rust Belt, the city is majority industrial. The ancient city centre is listed as a location of cultural significance by the Iaconian Heritage Board.

_Slaughter City.━_  Located on the northern edge of the Rust Belt, Slaughter City was founded amid the bloodshed of the early Quintesson Wars. It had a different name back then, but the memory stuck. Fittingly, it is now the murder capital of Cybertron. Slaughter City’s population is estimated at around 32 million residents; unlike the rest of the Rust Belt, the total is trending slowly downward.

_Breaker City.━_  Slaughter City’s largest satellite, and home to the largest dump on Cybertron. Per capita, Breaker City is one of the poorest regions on Cybertron, with an average income per working mech per vorn of 1,833 shanix, or roughly one six hundredth of the Iaconian average. The recycling industry is largely based here, employing around a third of the above-ground population. The air smells constantly of slag and acid; the city has many nicknames, none of which are suitable for polite conversation.

_Mebion.━_  located just inside the **Titanium Highlands** , Mebion is one of the Southern States’ richer cities. With the discovery of rich veins of rare Cybertronium variants, it grew from a remote village in the Austral Rus to a global power during the Golden Age. The depletion of these Cybertronium veins was one of the major causes of the first global recession which brought on the Age of Rust. Once hosting more than 50 million inhabitants, Mebion now claims only 38 million. Its remaining industry is manufacturing **;** the gross domestic product per capita is 1500 shanix.

_Blaster City.━_   a mountainous city situated around, on top of, and through an ancient mine; the name derives from the miners who used explosives to break apart the dense rock in which the minerals they sought resided. Like the other cities of the Rust Belt, it is poor and often dangerous. It also hosts a thriving underground art scene, and is known for the steady stream of tourists from other Rust Belt cities that come seeking that art.

_Stanix.━_ the city where the Decepticon rebellion was incubated; a major military staging point in the Southern States. Stanix is the descendant of the city called Stanix in Dynastic times, which was located farther south; the original was destroyed in the First Quintesson War and the site abandoned for richer terranes closer to the industrial regions of the time.

_Austral Tagan Fracture Zone.━_  an extensive region of geological fault and crumple zones located south of the Tagan Heights. Tectonic and seismological activity here reveals mineral veins usually hidden deep beneath the planetary surface; the industry of the southern Rust Belt follows the edge of the zone for a thousand leagues north and east.

_Triax.━_ located along the far eastern edge of the Austral Tagan Fracture Zone, Triax was founded during the early Golden Age as the base of operations of the Mare Triax Prospecting Company. As mining operations proliferated along the southern Tagan Heights, its population swelled quickly into the hundreds of thousands, prompting the central government to grant the city a metrotitan and its own provincial government. By the middle Age of Exploration, Triax was a city-state in its own right. Its population rests at around twenty million, most of whom are Tier Seven laborers. Its hinterlands contain some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere on Cybertron, lending it significant income from the movie industry.

_Hexima.━_ like Triax, Hexima was established late. It sits among the foothills of the Eastern Tagan Heights, one of Cybertron’s most remote polities. Primary industries include energon production, mining, and adventure tourism **;** again like Triax, Hexima is known for its impressive scenery. It is one of Cybertron’s smallest city-states, with a population of around ten million and a land area of less than 700 square leagues. It was designed during the population booms of the Age of Exploration to cater for up to sixteen million individuals, resulting in a city which today boasts low living costs and a high proportion of non-indentured workers.

_Gygax.━_ nestled in the bowl of an intermontane basin in the Titanium Highlands, Gygax is yet another southern mining city. Founded late, it benefited from the same mineral riches as Mebion, and suffered the same downfall. When Mebion’s Cybertronium deposits ran out, Gygax experienced skyrocketing mineral prices, a bubble economy which eventually burst, worsening the economic depression spreading out of Mebion. Its population is around 25 million, most of whom are Tier Seven laborers, with a significant undocumented underground population.

_Triscanion.━_ the Jewel of the South, an agricultural and manufacturing city located on the flat plains between the Titanium Highlands and the picturesque shores of **Mare Mithril**. Triscanion was largely insulated from the economic and political troubles of the late Golden Age, remaining a stable and affluent society until well after the beginning of the Cybertronian Civil War elsewhere. It maintained equal links with the Southern and Central Lowlands states, fostering a reputation for diplomacy. Late in the Dusk Ages, it was the location of a failed ceasefire summit between Autobot and Decepticon leadership cabals. Its population is small, around 15 million individuals, and the city covers just over a thousand square leagues.

_Helex.━_ one of Cybertron’s manufacturing hotspots, Helex’s location on the main trunk road between Kaon and Tarn is the ultimate evolution of a rest stop along the Simfur Narrows north-south route. Its origins date back to the Dynasty of Primes, with archaeological evidence found from across the Dynastic world. Helex is the fourth largest single city on Cybertron, with a population of approaching 100 million spread across 7,600 square leagues. Its inhabitants are primarily those of the Sixth and Seventh Tiers of caste, with a large and transient population of undocumented individuals. It has a reputation for violence, and is somewhat infamous for the gangland practice of execution via smelting pools.

_Twin Cities ( Tesarus & Border City ).━  _the Twin Cities conurbation is the third most populous administrative division on Cybertron, hosting over 75 million in Tesarus and close to 60 million in Border City. Both grew up out of villages along the main route to Kaon during the exploration of the First Generation, merging physically long before the city administrators started working together. The Twin Cities grew rich from trade on the opening of the **Grand Trunk Road** from Kaon to Iacon. They are well known for the complexity of their urban map, which features two separate hive cities and five metrotitans. Travellers visiting the Twin Cities are advised to bring a very good map.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breaker City belongs to Hnak, who generously let me borrow it.


	11. Meta - Terms & Definitions

## 1┊BODY PARTS

**HELM ━**  ‘head’. Borrowed from the general term for armor covering the head; used more specifically among the medical professions to refer to the structural plate armor which encases the sensory processing unit and forms a framework on which the facial substructure attaches.

**AUDIALS ━**  external audio receptors. All mecha have audials; some simply hide them better than others. Tend to be very sensitive due to proximity to the sensory processing unit.

**SPU (SENSORY PROCESSING UNIT) ━**  the sensory nerve center of the Cybertronian brain. Housed in the helm, encased in its own thick armor. Can be removed entirely from the rest of the body without health repercussions - this is total sensory deprivation if done to a conscious mech, and therefore considered a form of torture.

**DENTE / DENTA ━**  ‘teeth’. Strips of metal in the mouth continually laid down by the nanites in the frame, composed largely of trace minerals filtered from energon ( and other fuels ) consumed. Once used for chewing energon in crystalline state out of rock, now largely superfluous. Will keep growing if not attended to.

**GLOSSA **━**  **‘tongue’. An extension of the protomass of the lips, used to assist in filtration of energon consumed.

**OPTICS ━**  ‘eyes’. E ****ssentially very advanced video cameras, taking in visual input via light. Set behind the fascia, often shielded with additional optical filters. Optical colors other than pale blue are generally the result of filter lenses which serve a given purpose; eg. ‘red’ low-light filters assist in night vision and reduce the visible light output by the optical mechanism; or signify social status / alignment.

**FASCIA / FACEPLATES ━** ‘face’ Kind of self-explanatory. Composed of sheets of microplating which protect the mechanisms contained within the helm.

**INTAKES **━**** colloquially used to refer to the internal tube of the throat, esophagus-equivalent. In medical usage it refers to any opening through which environmental matter is introduced to a mech’s frame: air vents, hydraulic fluid supply, energon intakes, etc.

**STRUTS ━** the complex skeletal system. Struts seldom correspond exactly to a human equivalent, as Cybertronian frames must account for the transformation sequence which drastically changes a mech’s basic internal support requirements. One human bone often equals three or four interconnected struts which may fold or telescope into one another during transformation, or even disappear into subspace entirely.

**STAYS / CABLES **━**  **One part of the muscular system; refers to cables running through the body which anchor parts, notably armor plates, to the skeleton.

**HYDRAULIC SYSTEM ━** The other part of the muscular system, a set of machines which generate energy from pressurized liquid to power movement in the limbs, back, and neck. Technically a lot of mecha probably have pneumatic systems instead, which is essentially the same thing but with pressurised air.

**ARMOR ━** the outer defensive plating on a Cybertronian’s frame. All armor is plating; not all plating is armor. Armor is thick, rigid, and resistant to cutting, heat, and blunt force trauma. It is generally removable and customisable, but this is more akin to plastic surgery than changing clothes. Major pieces include: pauldrons (shoulders), cuirass (combined backplate, upper ventral plating, clavicular anchors), braces (forearms), greaves (shin). 

**PLATING ━** general term for the metal plates which cover the majority of a Cybertronian’s frame. May be two to three layers thick in places.

**PROTOMASS ━** a somatic component which is neither solid nor classically liquid, housing the majority of a mech’s nanite population and the raw metallic material used for upkeep of the frame. Protomass and nanites are recycled into each other, thus keeping the percentage of protomass to a mech’s body weight more or less static.

**CORE ARMOR ━** the internal ‘locked box’ that contained the CPU, memory core, and spark chamber. Located in the chest; the central seam of the external chestplates will align with the core locks which open to allow medical or romantic access to the mech’s spark.

**CPU ━** central processing unit, a mech’s ‘brain’. May be partially dispersed among a ‘cloud processor’ composed of nanites. Most mecha have anly one; getting two to communicate is fiddly work. Sparked cities and ships often have several - one of the reasons why they are rare and prohibitively expensive.

**MEMORY CORE ━** data storage, divided into short term recall, which is quick-access, and archives, which are encoded and compressed.

**SPARK CHAMBER ━** the metal chamber which contains each mech’s spark.

**SPARK ━** more or less the heart and soul combined. An entity composed of compressed plasma which undergoes nuclear fusion at a delayed rate, providing electrical energy for the frame.

**T-COG ━** the organ that controls and powers a mech’s transformation sequence and therefore alt-mode.   


**NEURAL NET ━**  ‘nerves’; the network of environmental and somatic sensory systems that supplies a Cybertronian with data regarding their own frame and the world around them.

**SERVOS ━** ‘hands’

**DIGITS ━**  ‘fingers’

**PEDES ━** ‘feet’

**FRAME ━**  ‘body’  


## 2┊OTHER BIOLOGICAL TERMS

**ROOT MODE ━**  ‘robot mode’, the bipedal (or not) basic form of each mech. Monophase mecha and monoformers are considered ‘locked’ in root mode.

**ALT MODE ━**  ‘vehicle mode’, the secondary form into which most mecha can transform. Alt mode types range from wheeled vehicles to jets to seagoing vessels and other, rarer alt modes such as data sticks and whatever the slag Rung is.

**COLD-CONSTRUCTED ━**  Mecha whose sparks were created by splicing plasmatic material from someone else’s spark. Sometimes referred to pejoratively as ‘knock-offs’.

**FORGED ━**  Mecha whose sparks were pulled from the Well of All Sparks and placed into a pre-fabricated frame.

**KINDLED ━** Mecha whose sparks were created from the catalytic reaction of introducing one spark to another in a controlled merge, producing a

**BUDDING ━**  Parthenogenesis; the natural creation of a newspark from the spark of a singular mech. Very rare, tends to happen with sparks experiencing incredible stress or energy states.

**SPARKED ━**  To be created by any of the above four methods, a rough analogue to ‘conceived’ or ‘born’. Sometimes used to mean ‘pregnant’.

**CARRIER ━**  ‘mother’. Parent of a kindled mech who incubated the newspark within their own frame.

**SIRE ━**  ‘father’. Parent of a kindled mech who merged spark with the carrier, contributing plasma and energy to the creation of the newspark.

**NEWSPARK ━** ‘newborn’, a newly-generated spark.

**SPARKLING ━** ‘child’, ‘infant’; general term for a young kindled or budded mech.

**CARRYING ━** The process of incubating a newspark within one’s own frame.

**SPIKE ━**  external, penetrative genitalia. With the channel, sometimes referred to as ‘sticky’ systems.

**CHANNEL ━**  internal, receptive genitalia. Most mecha have both a spike and a channel.

**INTERFACE ━**  A generic term for linking two systems together. Often used as slang for sexual intercourse, either with spike and valve (physical interface), electrical cables, or spark merges.

**ELECTROMAGNETIC (EM) FIELD ━**  The electromagnetic field generated by the spark and (less so) by the frame. Used as a secondary mode of communication and sensory awareness.

**SPARK BONDS ━**  Quantum bonds formed between two or more sparks, allows the transmission via quantum entanglement of varying levels of data.

**SPARK MERGES ━**  A reaction induced by putting two sparks together; a temporary meshing of their plasmatic material. Generates a great deal of energy, which is sometimes used to create a newspark or a spark bond.

## 3┊CYBERTRONIAN TAXONOMY

**GROUNDFRAME ━**  a Cybertronian whose alt-mode is limited to the surface of the planet. Technically includes those with non-wheeled altmodes such as hovercraft and aquatic vehicles; something of a catch-all term.

**FLIGHTFRAME ━**  a Cybertronian whose alt-mode allows them to fly. Not all flightframes are jets, but all jets are flightframes. Includes those with altmodes geared toward ex-atmospheric flight.

**WARFRAME ━**  a Cybertronian of diverse types whose systems and programs are geared toward combat, conflict, and security.  

**FRAME TYPE ━**  the taxonomy of physical structures and their associations with one another in Cybertronian biological diversity. Essentially refers to body type, with nods to altmode type and size class.

**SIZE CLASS ━**  a method of sorting Cybertronians by mass and height. A necessary conceit when one’s species ranges so vastly in comparative size, as some structures and tools are built only for the use of those of a certain size.

**MINICON ━** a type of Cybertronian belonging to a minority culture. These are the smallest Cybertronians, most being roughly human-sized. They are not considered ‘full’ Cybertronians, but are physically no different.

**MINIBOT ━**  the smallest ‘full’ Cybertronians, one of the more common frametypes. Range from slim and leggy to compact and heavily armored.

**LIGHT STANDARD ━**  the most common frametype, as close to a ‘basic Cybertronian’ as you’re going to get. Between about 17’ and 23’ in height.

**HEAVY STANDARD ━**  Like a light standard, but stockier and usually taller. Think Ratchet and Trailbreaker.

**THROTTLE ━**  a frametype built for heavy manual labor, lacking in dexterity and speed but making up for it in pure strength. Think Bulkhead and Breakdown.

**DEXTER ━**  a frametype between standard groundframes and warframes, borrowing from the largest members of each category. Developed for heavy manual labor and endurance without sacrificing dexterity, hence the name. Tend to be the largest groundframes.

**LIGHT WARBUILD ━**  usually grounded, more or less look like any light standard, but with the addition of guns and armor. Tend toward the security and conflict end of the scale; think Prowl, Red Alert.

**HEAVY WARBUILD ━**  range in size from small to honkin great. ‘Heavy’ refers not to size but armor grade; heavy warbuilds are heavily armed and armored, and tend to congregate in the military castes. Range in size from Warpath to Sunstreaker to Ironhide to Megatron.

**FRONTLINER ━**  the largest and baddest heavy warbuild class. Heavily romanticised.

**CHEVALIER ━**  the light, agile, second-largest heavy warbuild class. Also heavily romanticised.

**SEEKER ━**  a nickname for the Flighted Warbuild frametype, referring to the group’s stereotypical proclivity for object fixation (targeting). Not all jets are Seekers, but all Seekers are jets. The class as a whole is downright fetishised.

**LIGHT JET ━** a blanket term for the smaller jet classes. Usually comparatively larger than groundframes, as jets require more fuel and larger engines to power their flight, resulting in larger-massing frames.

**SUPER-LIGHT JET ━**  the tiniest jets, those less than 25’ in height and weighing 5000lb or less.

**HEAVY JET ━**  the blanket term for the larger jet classes. Generally measure in at 15,000lb, 45’ tall and larger.

**SATELLITE ━**  flighted Cybertronians whose frames are optimised for stationary and orbital ex-atmospheric activity  They lack the powerful interplanetary engines of shuttles, but carry comparative shielding, and are often employed in communications relays and planetary observation systems.

**SHUTTLE ━**  the largest multiphase Cybertronians in existence, flightframes built for cargo carriage both in-atmosphere and on an interplanetary scale.

**ROTARY ━**  flightframes relying on rotary blades to generate lift rather than jet engines. Are much slower than jets; were developed originally because of the need for VTOL platforms in early Cybertronian wars.

**TRIPLE-CHANGER ━**  a mech built and programmed to handle two separate alt-modes as well as a root mode. These are very rare, because the amount of programming required to govern a triple-mode frame alone is extremely technologically tricky, and the interlocking systems which allow two alt-modes in the first place are likewise extremely advanced and prohibitively expensive. They tend to turn up in special ops military outfits, because that’s who has the money and technological access to build one.

**SHIFTER ━**  a Cybertronian with extremely adaptable transformation abilities. Unlike triple-changers, Shifters do not have multiple alt-modes, merely one that is very well disguised; nor can they change their mass or method of locomotion. They have their own system configuration, and in some parts of Cybertron, their own separate culture and society.

**MONOPHASE ━**  a mech with only one mode. Usually a term referring to those mecha too big to perform a full mode transformation, but in some cases also encompassing those with no alt-mode by choice, such as Monoformers.

**METROTITAN / SPARKED CITY ━**  a living city; a mech whose physical body grows so large, so quickly, that moving at all becomes not worth the effort. Metrotitans are sparked with the coding and aptitude for this sort of life ; they have their own system configuration and spark spectra.

**SPARKED SHIP ━**  a living ship. Sometimes these are smaller Metrotitans who have chosen to have themselves modified for flight and keep themselves trim with the help of a resident crew; other times they are mecha purposely built for the task.

**MONOFORMER ━**  a mech who has chosen to have their T-cog removed, thus locking them in one mode. Usually done for religious reasons, though some such procedures are the result of medical intervention.

**SYSTEM CONFIGURATION ━**  The internal electrical systems, programming, and operating system of a mech, influencing personality, talents, aptitudes and faults. There are five main system configurations, each with their own primary way of interacting with data and energy.

> _Aptatus →_  adaptive systems, information conversion, geared toward drawing conclusions from available data. Bumblebee, Megatron.
> 
> _Durus →_  minimal energy output, long effective timeframe, single-track processing focused on single outcomes in high detail. Bulkhead, Breakdown.
> 
> _Efficiens →_  efficiency in processing, data intake and collation at high volumes. Ratchet, Ultra Magnus.
> 
> _Ferus →_  narrow-focus systems, high energy output, quick processing focused on generating multiple outcomes. Smokescreen, Hot Rod.
> 
> _Intellegens →_  broad-focus systems and multi-track processing with a focus on data collection and association. Optimus Prime, Arcee.

## 4┊UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

**MECHANOMETER ━** unit of distance, something like a meter. Not often used.

**LEAGUE ━** unit of distance; equals 2.1 miles.

 

## 5┊CULTURAL TERMS

**PRIME ━**  the cultural and spiritual leader of the Cybertronian species, legal head of state of the Empire.

**THE PRIMACY ━**  the organisation of high-ranking religious officials which caretake the Prime and their offices.

**THE MYTHOS ━**  a collective term denoting the various religious traditions of Cybertron.

**PRIMUS ━**  the God of the Cybertronians, a primordial force of good and order, the ultimate ancestor of the Cybertronian race. Resides at the core of Cybertron, may or may not in fact be the planet itself.

**UNICRON ━**  Primus’ mirror image, a god of evil and chaos. Resides at the core of Earth, and is the ultimate source of all Dark Energon on the planet.

**THE THIRTEEN ━**  Primus’ ‘children’, the first thirteen Cybertronians, inheritors of Primus’ power who together defeated Unicron and sent him into stasis.

**THE DYNASTY OF PRIMES ━** The most ancient era of Cybertronian history, in which the Thirteen walked the planet and ruled over a growing community of their own creations.

**THE CATACLYSM ━**  the historical extinction event caused by a bombardment of meteorites which destroyed the Predacons and nearly exterminated all Cybertronians, ending the Dynasty of Primes.

**THE MATRIX ━**  The artifact which confers legitimacy upon the Prime, passed down from the Thirteen to the modern Primes. A repository of the memories and wisdom of each Prime.

**THE WELL OF ALL SPARKS ━**  Both a physical location ( the grave of Solus Prime and the place from which newsparks are harvested ) and a metaphysical concept ( the afterlife, a cosmic resting place of the sparks of the dead ).

**THE PITS ━**  A metaphysical concept which is home to spooks and ghouls of Cybertronian history and culture. Not quite an equivalent of Hell; the Pits have nothing to do with the unworthy dead.

**CASTES ━**  Divisions of Cybertronian society based on social status and occupation; an extremely restrictive system which allowed little to no social mobility throughout the vast majority of the Golden Age.

**CADRES ━** The basic social unit, a group of two to ten mecha who have entered a legal partnership based on platonic and romantic bonds.

**TRINES ━**  a cultural form of the cadre, consisting of three individuals. Used almost exclusively by Vosian culture, in which trines are the basic and most important social unit.

**CLADES ━**  a major social unit consisting of tens to hundreds of mecha of the same caste, a sort of extended family. There may be many clades in each caste, or there may be as few as one or two.

**REFORMATTING ━**  to change the frame type and / or system configuration of a given mech by surgical methods. Can be partial or full, the latter of which is an almost complete rebuild of one’s body.

**CONJUNX ENDURA ━**  the legal equivalent of a spark bond, a concept which marries two Cybertronians in the eyes of the law. You can only have two participants in a given Conjunx bond, but you can take part in more than one concurrent Conjunx bond, allowing for polyamorous partnerships.

**AMICA ENDURA ━** a platonic bond which is largely cultural; “best friends in a society where such friendships last for millions of years.” 

## 6┊LANGUAGE

**MECH / MECHA ━**  singular and plural terms for Cybertronians. Generally speaking, has no gendered implications.

**ENERGON ━**  chemical energy source which Cybertronians use as a primary fuel. Comes in several levels of refinement, ranging from drone-grade (low purity) through standard-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade, and in several different types: Dark Energon (purple, the ‘Blood of Unicron’, poisonous and/or psychoactive), Tox-En (green, just plain poisonous), Red Energon (red, some sort of hyper juice) and Synth-En (green, mildly psychoactive).

**BERTH ━**  ‘bed’. May be overtly bedlike, or simply a flat slab of metal on which the mech sleeps.  

**AFT ━**  ‘butt’. Slang term, probably don’t use it in polite company.  Also an insult, eg. “Why is she such an aft?”

**SCRAP ━**  Slang, literally means useless leftovers. Colloquially used as a soft swearword, past tense verb form ‘scrapped’ means totaled or killed.

**FRAG ━**  Slang referring to either sexual intercourse (“We fragged behind the barracks”), to be injured (“He really fragged me up”), or as a general-purpose expression of displeasure (“Frag that!”).

**SLAG ━**  Slang, literally means molten metal refuse or impure byproducts of smelting. Also used as a hard swearword, akin to ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’ (though without the sexual connotations of the latter).

**GLITCH ━**  insult; context and severity varies from ‘bitch’ to ‘asshole’ to ‘retard’.

**ONLINE ━** awake, alive.   


**OFFLINE ━**  unconscious, or occasionally dead.

**BITLET ━** slang term for a child or young Cybertronian, sometimes used for the offspring of other species as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep finding bits and pieces on my tumblr accounts that I've never ported over here - this one can be found originally [here on my old rp blog.](http://battlesparked.tumblr.com/post/152979066426/headcanon-terms-definitions)


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